The Sin of Hope
by Rainbowkittyblossomwings
Summary: Post apocalyptic AU. The mortal plane has become trapped between a endless battle between Heaven and Hell. The Seven Deadly Sins and Heavenly virtues fight over the fate of mortals in this world. There's only one question since the fighting seems endless; how did things get like this for the Keroro platoon?
1. Mortal's Life

**Disclaimer: I own nothing. Nothing at all**

**All right. This is going to be a sort of differently styled story. Very AU based. It will alternate between chapters with Mortals, Heaven and then Hell.**

**A weird quote thing will be at the beginning of every chapter.**

**Ummm, pairings...Pairings, should I even include them? I'm not going to. It will be a surprise if you don't know me.**

**It'll be pretty easy to guess though if you do know me.**

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"_Let the world run in chaos, let everything die…." –The Lord of Hell_

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Natsumi Hinata knelt in front of her brother's body, shaking him to get up. He wasn't moving or breathing after getting hit by a sharp rock in his chest. Natsumi didn't want to admit that he was dead, so she just kept shaking him.

"Come on, Fuyuki…. Wake up! I can't lose Mom and my only brother in the same day! That's just… cruel…. Fuyuki, come on, speak to me…" she begged, trying to shake him awake. He did no such thing. He had left the world of the living an hour ago when he had used his body to shield her from the rubble in front of them that fell.

This was all her fault. She hadn't run fast enough when her mother ordered her to, two days ago when the scavengers found her house and began picking apart the underground burrow as they searched for all the tools that her family had found throughout the years. Her mother had tried to kick them out but they had killed her when she got in their way. Her last words as the knife plunged through her heart had been to run away and keep Fuyuki safe. Natsumi had run, but after pulling her brother through the barren land of nothing except rubble and the remains of dead animals and plants, she had accidentally bumped into a wall that was unstable on her journey for shelter for that night. Fuyuki had pushed her out of the way, sacrificing himself to shield her from the rubble.

Now her only family members were dead, and she was all alone in the post-apocalyptic world that she lived in.

"Fuyuki…. I'm sorry…" Natsumi whispered to her younger brother. She loved her family dearly and now they were gone. "We wouldn't have had this life with you in danger if we weren't in this stupid war." She bit back tears. Only half of that was true, she knew—even though the war had caused her life to be lived underground, hiding and taking care of her brother to avoid the natural disasters while her mom left to get food and supplies for them. She had been the one to cause her brother's death from not being able to protect him.

Natsumi was a strong girl and barely ever cried, even though there were plenty of indicants where she should have at times, like when her mother was two days late from coming home, or when her brother got sick—and sickness, for the most part, usually equaled death. But she had always been strong and tried to give her younger brother hope that everything would be all right. Today, though, she had nothing to hope for and could no longer hold the tears. She sobbed; she sobbed hard even though she knew her loud sobs might attract the scavengers again. Why had greed taken hold of such a strong, bug-like species?

Natsumi looked to the hard dirt and began digging with her hands for a proper burial for her brother. However, her hands didn't have the correct amount of power to quickly dig the hole she needed.

"If I had a shovel I'd be able to do this," Natsumi growled, yet again wishing she could do something about this war which had lasted for eons. Why did heaven and hell have to use the world as their battle ground? The normal people wanted nothing to do with their stupid war! Of course, no one was at fault except Hell as she had heard, since Hell had picked the fight and set everything up for death and floods and famine for the people on the world. Heaven was just trying to protect everyone, so it had to fight. There was nothing a mortal like her could do about it, nothing at all.

"I can, though… for Fuyuki…. I can survive and not let this war take me…" she realized. "I can help the people who are still alive, if there are any." Natsumi looked at the small hole that she had dug, realizing that she had to do something for Fuyuki. She couldn't just sit around doing nothing and live on her own until she died. She had to help people just as Fuyuki had helped her. She had to do her best and stand up to anything in her way.

"Rest in peace, Fuyuki," Natsumi whispered to her brother's dead body. She carefully closed his eyes and kissed him on the forehead to say good-bye, still sorry that she couldn't bury him. I'm going to be a warrior. I'm not just going to sit around doing nothing."

"Thank you… Sis…." For a moment she heard her brother's soft voice in her ears. She smiled at the little miracle of hearing her brother after death. Perhaps the Heavenly king had a place for him in his court? Fuyuki would be all right in the next life, that she knew.

Natsumi walked along the sightless wasteland for hours. All she saw was flat dirt everywhere she looked. The moon eventually rose up to light her path, which helped her see, but didn't do much else. This was Natsumi's first time alone in the world and she didn't know how long she'd last.

"Brrr…." Natsumi rubbed her arms, realizing how cold it was in the middle of the night. She needed to find some shelter so she could survive the night and continue surviving for her brother and mom in the morning. She didn't have any death wishes, after all. Seeing a bump in the ground a ways away, she ran forward, hoping to check it to see if it had an abandoned burrow. Underground was the only safe place for sleep and warmth. Usually, due to people trying to lose any of hell's creatures, they migrated once every two months, so there were a lot of abandoned burrows. Natsumi's burrow had been a lucky one, large and somewhere well-protected. She had lived there for most of her life. That had probably been one of the reasons the scavengers had found them. They had an excellent tracking sense for humans like herself who lived in one place for more than a year. Natsumi tried not to think of the savage scavengers who had ruined the life as she squeezed into the tight tunnel in the ground. Sliding along her belly, she reached the bottom, which opened to a large cavern where she could stand up in. It looked safe enough.

"Hello! Is anyone still here?" she asked, just in case this burrow wasn't abandoned. It looked abandoned, and didn't look as if anyone her size had entered it. Only the smallest of footprints were in the dirt, so she had easily dismissed the light footwork.

"Yes, as a matter of fact, they are," a deep, commanding voice responded. She whirled around to see a small creature two or three feet tall leaning against the wall next to a small tunnel. "Need a light?" he asked. Before she could answer he lit a torch and hung it up. Natsumi could see his slender body and his only clothing on his torso, a belt. She couldn't make out his color due to her eyes adjusting to the light.

"Why did you come here? My comrades and I are using this burrow as shelter for the night. We'll leave in the morning if your family wants to take it," he told her.

"Why are you leaving?" Natsumi asked.

"It's a warrior's duty to protect the people who can't protect themselves. I am looking for those people that need help," the man answered. "Where's your family, human?"

Natsumi sighed in relief. He had called her _human_, which meant he wasn't one of the soldiers of hell. For some reason all of them called her species _Pekoponian_.

"…They're dead. I am on my own now, trying to survive the world of today," she answered.

"That's awful to hear…. Did scavengers get them?" the man asked, his voice laced with pity.

"Yeah." She nodded.

"An acid flood killed my family. I was the only one who managed to outrun it and make it to higher ground…" the man shared, understanding her. "My group takes in survivors with no family like yourself. You'd be the first of your species, but we'd be happy to have you."

"Really?" She asked, astounded. These were the first kind people she had ever met besides her family. She hadn't actually met any other people besides the scavengers that she had seen. "I'd be honored to join…. Thank you."

Natsumi smiled and out-stretched her hand to shake his. "I'm Natsumi Hinata. You're a…" She wracked her brain for the name of their species. Her mother had taught her about it once, but she couldn't remember—Fuyuki had always been better with this than she was, anyway. "…frog, right?"

"Keronian, actually. It's a pleasure to meet you." The Keronian accepted the handshake.

Natsumi sighed with relief. Her first step in surviving had been taken.

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**So Natsumi's chapter is done. Yeah, she's going to be in the mortal line. Hope you enjoyed.**


	2. Virtues

**Yeah, another chapter. So the way things will go in chapters will be, Mortal plane, Heaven, Hell. **

**This chapter is Heaven.**

**Thank you guest reviewer who wanted me to post this story, btw.**

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_"Running and hiding to survive is the life of us mortals." –Mortal_

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Fuyuki materialized onto a white cloud after thanking his sister. He knew automatically where he was. He'd never told anyone, but he knew his whole entire life where he'd end up, and that was the reason his life had been sacrificial. Fuyuki was a virtue—destined for a place in heaven's court so he could help life with his virtue and to lead them in his ways. He didn't know why he had been chosen to do so, but he knew he was.

"Fuyuki… glad to see you're here finally." A calm voice was behind him. Fuyuki whirled around to see a light blue Keronian with a mask on. He'd always assumed that someone on heaven would look a bit more heavenly, but this person looked kind enough.

"Why was I chosen to be here? I hardly deserve it. So why has my entire life been holy?" Fuyuki asked curiously. The Keronian chuckled.

"You inherited it. Your mother was a virtue too, and now that she has died, she's back where she was meant to be," the Keronian answered.

"Mom's here as well?" Fuyuki smiled widely. The Keronian nodded. "Will sis come here too?"

"I'm sorry, Fuyuki…. Your sister was born mortal, unlike you…" he apologized.

"Um… sir, may I ask what my virtues are?" Fuyuki asked. The Keronian chuckled again.

"Don't you already know what they are? You were a rare case who knew about your powers and felt every one of your virtues since you were born. Usually someone develops a virtue when they are a mortal, but they don't know about them until they come here. You're special, though. You knew all along."

Fuyuki looked down guiltily. "Chastity, temperance, and humility…" he recited.

"You have three wonderful virtues that makes you very powerful. It's your job, Fuyuki, to use your good virtues to keep the mortals' hearts clean—and yours, as well. They must not be tempted to the underworld. Your power can be used to protect and keep everyone, including us, safe from the underworld," the Keronian told him.

"Sir, uh… may I ask which virtue you are?" Fuyuki asked.

The Keronian chuckled politely.

"Ah yes, I forgot to introduce myself. My name is Dororo, King of the Heavens."

Fuyuki was shocked for a moment that he had met the legendary king of the heavens who controlled and protected all.

"You wanted to see your mother, correct? I had to give her a talk about her virtues just two days ago."

Fuyuki nodded, dumbstruck at how nice everything was here. A cloud parted and made a bridge that led to a new cloud with his mother, Aki.

"Mom!" Fuyuki was filled with joy. He jumped into his mother's arms.

"I'm so glad to see you again, Fuyuki! Do you know this is my land which I control with my powers? Look, you can see Natsumi from here!" She pointed downward to show Fuyuki his sister talking to a Keronian.

"Your powers, Mom? You mean, to help people with your virtues?" Fuyuki asked.

"Yep. Motherhood and diligence. Dororo says I made and created motherhood and it wasn't a main virtue till me," Aki explained.

"I take the virtues not inhabited of the seven heavenly virtues. Now that you're here, we've got all of them here to combat the sins." Dororo explained.

"I'm the opposite of sloth," Aki said to her son.

"And you're the opposite of lust, gluttony, and pride." Dororo pointed to Fuyuki, "Make sure to work on mortals experiencing those problems."

Fuyuki nodded.

"Come, Fuyuki, we have more people to introduce you to," Dororo instructed.

"Were they mortals, too, until they died? Did you choose them to inhabit the virtues?" Fuyuki asked, his nature very curious like usual. Dororo smiled warmly.

"Yes they were mortals like you. However, I didn't choose any of them. They were born with their traits," he said, leading Fuyuki to another bridge. "This virtue wants to meet you very much. She's been watching you ever since you were born and waiting for you to come up here." Fuyuki blushed at that statement. When they got to the new cloud, Fuyuki saw a sort of blue spiky-haired girl around his age. She blushed.

"Hello, Fuyuki… I'm Momoka, the virtue of charity…. Opposite of Greed." She fumbled and fidgeted with her fingers.

"She's also a new virtue that was created, one that I knew nothing about… the virtue of love," Dororo put in.

"Nice to meet you, Momoka." Fuyuki smiled, as Momoka was the first person around his age he had ever met. He shook her hand. She erupted in blush. "Uh…?"

"She's so very happy to meet you. I want to introduce you to a favorite a personal friend of mine. She's my most trusted companion," said Dororo. Fuyuki was taken away before he got to say anything else to Momoka.

The next cloud he came across had a green-haired girl with a ponytail around his sister's age. She wore weird clothing that was odd for the time period.

"Meet Koyuki, virtue of kindness and patience, opposite of envy and wrath," Dororo introduced.

"It's nice to meet you, Fuyuki," Koyuki smiled, tilting her head to the side. "That was very kind of you to sacrifice yourself for your sister."

"Um… thanks?" Fuyuki asked, "So… Dororo… may I ask what it is that I'll do here?" he wondered, seeing everyone look quite busy.

"Ah, yes…" Dororo clapped his hands and a new bridge appeared to a cloud that was filled with all the books Fuyuki could ever desire. "This is your room. You'll start training immediately for you to be able to use your virtues and feel them in people. Every person who has your virtue makes you stronger, and when someone abandons it you become weaker. Try to use your power to get energy so you may make people stronger and resupply the world with flowers and creation!" Dororo smiled. Fuyuki was a bit confused, but Dororo thought that was all the explanation he needed. He left, feeling as if he had been a good king.

"Better start reading…." Fuyuki trailed off and sat down, ready to read.

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**Please review. For my dying cabbage child.**


	3. Boiling Rage

**Disclaimer: I still don't own anything.**

**All right. A quick track of which characters are where from what ya'll know.**

**Natsumi-Mortal**

**Fuyuki-The Heavens**

**Aki-The Heavens**

**Momoka-The Heavens**

**Koyuki-Also the Heavens**

**Dororo-The heavenly King over everything because he's amazing.**

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"_Let us protect this world from all the evil in it." –King of the Heavens_

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"Mmmm…. Sweet, sweet candy…" Tamama munched on his snacks, which looked like an almost endless supply. He knew he was supposed to be doing something important like playing around with the mortals, but he just wanted to eat his snacks. Tamama, the sin of gluttony, was very loyal to his job.

"Lucky, Tamama… slacking of like that. I want to slack off…" Keroro complained, mopping the floor.

"Mister Keroro… why are you mopping this room again? Didn't you just mop it?" Tamama asked, taking another bite of a piece of candy.

"I did… But you know the Lord, for some reason she always makes sloth work the hardest…" Keroro groaned, lying down lazily. "I want some Gunpla!" he complained again, the true embodiment of the sins of greed and sloth.

"Sloth! Are you slacking off again?" The voice of the Lord of Hell thundered as the wall disappeared to reveal her throne room of darkness. She sat on her throne of skulls, stroking the yellow Keronian curled in her lap as if he were her cat. She never addressed anyone by name except her favorite servant which for some reason she liked more than the rest.

"Of course I'm not!" Keroro denied, "I was just… um… trying to get my scavengers, my creatures of greed, to get some more mortals…. Isn't that great, My Lord?" He shivered. The Lord was something to be terrified of, especially when she was angry.

"I can't believe you suck up to the Lord so much… jealousy!" Tamama growled, also being the sin of envy.

"Did you say something insulting to your Lord, Envy?" The Lord asked again, having a sort of amused tone to her voice. Tamama went pale.

"Of course not, Ma'am…" he answered, "I was just… thinking about some snacks…."

"You're such a stupid little being, being so frightened of her. Ku, ku, ku…" The yellow Keronian got up from the lord's lap, being egotistical and rubbing being the Lord's favorite in Tamama's face. Kululu, the sin of pride—nobody liked except the Lord of their land.

"You're just her favorite cuz you sleep with her!" Tamama accused.

"So?" Kululu shrugged, not denying the obvious truth. "Sleeping with people earns favor. Maybe if you slept with me, I'd like you more too," he suggested.

"You shall sleep with no one but me, Kululu," the Lord ordered, pulling Kululu back into her lap like the figurative cat he was. He sighed.

"You can't really stop the sin of lust, though," he reminded her. "But I guess it's just my fault that I'm so awesome that the Lord of Hell fell in love with me." He shrugged, "You're lucky that you're so attractive or I might not grace you with my presence at all. Ku, ku, ku."

Keroro and Tamama's jaws dropped open. Only Kululu was able to get away with insulting the Lord so much without being tortured. She always had to remind them who was the one in power. If anyone would go traitor on Hell, it would be Kululu due to his attitude of thinking he was better than this and wanting more.

"And you're lucky that I have taken a liking to you, or else I might treat you like all the other sins and make your life miserable," the Lord pointed out.

"It's cuz I'm so good in bed that you treat me so well. All the girls say so," Kululu responded.

"Let's get out, Tamama… I don't want to be here when she explodes. We'll just get caught in the crossfire…" Keroro whispered.

"All the 'girls' say so, now, do they? You've only been with me," she says.

"That's what you think. Maybe sometimes I go out and about for some fun. They're all so interesting and different than you. I bet you don't even know how many children of mine have been running around throughout the eons." Kululu laughed.

"Yeah…. Let's run…" Tamama agreed. The two linked hands and ran for their lives. The sounds of Kululu's screams were behind them as the dark whirlpool of power and flames of torture were alight. Keroro sat down as soon as he thought he was out of sight.

"Keroro…. What's wrong? Someone getting tortured by the Lord?" Giroro, sin of wrath, asked when he approached him.

"Kululu is. He said he had some half-mortal children running around and that he went out for some fun," said Keroro.

Giroro smirked. "I just have to see that disgusting creature get what he deserves." He walked away from Keroro to peer into the room of Kululu's screams.

"Fine, fine! I lied! Happy? You've prevented me from having an encounter from anyone other than you. All right, m-my Lord?" he said, trembling for his life. The Lord sat down, looking calmer.

"Good, that's what I've thought. I've kept you under a very watchful eye. You've never gone to mortals since you've been created as a sin." She grinned.

"How do you know I didn't sleep with anyone before that? I'm good enough to do that after all. And I've tried to sleep with the other sins, too," Kululu reminded her.

"I _know_ because I chose every single one of you. I've watched you since you were created. You touched no one, until me. And I destroyed the other sins who you almost touched except Wrath, who hurt you on his own."

"Geez. Look, I'm the sin of lust. You can't just demand that I look at only you. It's not going to happen. I'm not going to be loyal or love you, I'm lust." His voice was filled with pride from his sin.

"I know…." Irritation was suddenly replaced by more of a tender tone in her voice as she sounded hurt by his words. "But, Kululu can't you at least try to feel love?"

Giroro made a disgusted face. He didn't know if the lord and Kululu were just sex partners or just constantly in a lover's quarrel.

"Call me Pride. I don't like it when you address me as less than the other sins," he instructed her.

"I will call you whatever I want. You are my possession, remember?" The Lord seemed to now speak to him in a cold, sadistic voice as she stroked his fingers around the frame of his head.

"Y-yes, my Lord…." Kululu tried not to shiver, he regained his composure, "But my lord…. Remember that even though you're possessive of me, you aren't the most loyal yourself. I mean, you weren't a virgin when we…"

"…became one?" she suggested.

"…screwed for the fun of it. Ku, ku, ku," he corrected. Giroro tried not to laugh at the Lord's anguish. She was the Lord of everything in the underworld and everyone respected and feared her, even Kululu, but it was nice to see the anger and pain of anyone, even the Lord.

"…My past before this is something that I shan't revisit," the Lord reminded him. "This conversation has gone past its time. Leave and work on some new ways to take down the heavens above," she ordered.

"I guess you need my genius yet again, fine…." Kululu left, rather annoyed.

"Wrath… I see you hiding behind that pillar. What is it you need?" The Lord flicked her wrist to beckon him to come. Giroro walked forward and bowed, deciding to tell the lord about the new soldiers Heaven had that would make battle a lot harder.

"My lord, Heaven has two new recruits, who contain the virtue of chastity, temperance, humility, motherhood, and diligence…. They now beat us and have more power over us," Giroro reported. The lord stayed calm.

"No worries, this was just as expected. They can never beat the darkness, and our powers still beat them. This is all just no more than a game, and it's a slow, boring one. If something goes wrong, we—the darkness and evil—can just cheat and win," the Lord replied. Giroro grinned.

The heavens would be taken down wonderfully. He couldn't wait to feel their rage.


	4. Teamwork in Surviving

**Another chapter for all of you. =)**

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"_The world was made to be my plaything. There's no other purpose for its existence." –The Lord of Hell_

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The Keronian with a belt led Natsumi to a different room.

"Comrades… I have found another survivor for us," he greeted. The four Keronians already there looked up.

"She's a human," the salmon-colored one noticed.

"Yes," the leader responded.

"I've never seen a human before…."

"I have. They're all jerks," spoke a red-eyed grey Keronian with a mask.

The light blue one seemed excited. "It'll be fun to have more friends!"

"Garuru… do you think she's dangerous?" said a lavender Keronian who went to the leader's side.

_Maybe she's his lover? Too bad. The first guy I meet that's not my brother and seems decent happens to have a girlfriend, _Natsumi thought to herself. The only other dating option she saw was the grey one, who seemed a little distant.

"What's her name?" the salmon-colored one asked again.

"Hey! Speak to me like I'm actually here!" Natsumi declared. "My name is Natsumi Hinata."

"Ah yes, I believe I haven't introduced myself quite yet. My name is Garuru." The purple Keronian shook her hand.

"Pururu," the lavender one introduced. Natsumi realized she was the only Keronian girl.

"My name's Taruru! It's nice to meet'cha." The light blue one sounded excited.

"I am the awesome Tororo, and the silent one would be my friend over there, Zoruru," greeted the salmon-colored one. Zoruru just nodded to acknowledge her.

"Introductions have been long enough! We need to get a good night's rest and start traveling in the morning," Garuru declared. "Newcomer, come over here with me. I'll lay some of the rules of our group down."

Natsumi nodded and followed Garuru into another room in the underground settlement.

"Is she your lover?" Natsumi asked the first thing that came to mind, referring to Pururu. Garuru laughed.

"Not at all! She's just… a close friend. When the acid killed my family, I immediately went to her family to see how she was faring. The acid managed to get everyone but her. She was my… younger brother's…" He seemed to have trouble mentioning his younger brother. "…close friend. At his death I swore to protect his only living friend, and I've protected her ever since."

"Oh." Natsumi had just read things wrong.

"She's like a sister to me," Garuru responded. "Along with Zoruru, we've been the first of this band of survivors." He paused. "I didn't come to chat about Pururu, though. I came to lay down rules and regulations."

"Yes," Natsumi nodded.

"We help whoever's in need, but protecting our own is our first priority. Especially the younger and weaker ones… like Tororo," Garuru said. "We do not hoard supplies for ourselves. We share and rationalize it. I am the leader and you do not disobey my orders. When the sun goes down we do not go out. We hide. The suspicious strangers that look and seem dangerous, we do not deal with. Do not get involved in the war. It is not ours to deal with. We are family to each other now." He finished reciting the oaths.

"I can follow those." Natsumi nodded, feeling a bit left out in the last one due to being the new member.

"Find a room to spend the night in, or bunk with someone else. I don't care." Garuru thought for a moment. "Have any provisions?"

"No." Natsumi shook her head.

"All right," Garuru responded. "You are free to leave my room, then."

Natsumi darted out, heading for one of the other caverns.

She managed to find one in almost complete darkness.

"Leave," a cold voice ordered. She recognized it as Zoruru.

"Sorry! I didn't know anyone was here yet," she apologized, waving her hands in the air.

"You may be in our group, but you're not like the rest of us," said Zoruru. "Your largeness might prove to be a danger. I won't hesitate to end you if that's the case."

Natsumi swallowed and quietly left to a different room.

"Hey, new girl!" The room belonged to Taruru, who seemed giddy. "I'm glad we have a new friend in our group. Honestly, I sort of hope some of my friends might join us, but that probably won't be the case. What happened to your family, stranger?"

"Scavengers," Natsumi responded, loathing the word as she said it.

"Ah. I was separated from my family during a scavenger attack. I can always hope that they're still alive…." Taruru laughed nervously, knowing that if something had chased him off, his family was probably dead, as well. "You going to spend the night here? We could talk or play games all night!"

"I think I'd rather get some shut-eye." Natsumi left the room to try a different cavern.

"Pu, pu, pu…. So I see the human stumbles in here…" Tororo laughed. "Zoruru here doesn't trust you. I don't particularly care. Have anything useful to be your saving grace?"

"I'm strong," Natsumi responded, "and I'm determined to survive."

"Everyone's determined to survive. That's not saying much," Tororo told her. "I guess you've got a big butt and that's something that's useful about you."

"How is a big butt useful?" Natsumi asked, covering her butt with her hands and backing away.

"It's hot," Tororo responded.

Natsumi left.

Going to the last open room, she came into it expecting Pururu.

"Didn't want to spend time with any of the boys, huh?" Pururu asked, "Well, a girl's got to pull her own weight here. You're welcomed to spend the night."

"Thanks." Natsumi felt sort of awkward about being a human in a group of Keronians.

"Don't worry about your species. In this world, it really doesn't matter. We're all running from the same threat, after all." Pururu told her.

"Yeah…" said Natsumi.

"It's hard to lose your family, isn't it?" asked Pururu with a sigh. "I was lucky and was given Garuru the day I lost mine. But you… you have no one, don't you?" she cooed, understanding. Natsumi nodded her head.

"You have us now. We'll be your family. You'll like it here, I promise." Pururu yawned. "It's about time to sleep; feel free to curl up on the ground." Pururu herself curled up.

"'Night." Natsumi told her.

"Good night. May the heavens watch over you," Pururu wished

Natsumi closed her eyes. Another step of survival had been reached.

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**Hope you enjoy this story.**


	5. Humanity

**So mostly world building chapter. This one is the heavenly kingdom. Action will happen next chapter though.**

**Geez I have problems writing Fuyuki.**

**Fuyumomo will be a pairing in this. Do not worry.**

**I like writing Dororo as the heavenly king though. It just makes me feel really happy.**

**Disclaimer: I own nothing.**

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"_Caught between heaven and hell, as they play cat and mouse. That's our life." –Mortals_

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Fuyuki sat at a sort of desk thing shaped in clouds.

The heavenly kingdom was a nice place to live. Certainly a lot better than fighting for your life every day.

There was only the desire to help others. There was no risk of their lives being risked though.

No problems, they had everything they needed.

Fuyuki even had his Mom back to him.

"Ummm, uhhh...Fuyuki?" Momoka, the girl with short blue hair came into his sort of cloud world after knocking. She was a nice girl that he had just met. Another virtue obviously more experienced than him. A little shy though. "I just wanted to see how you were doing."

"No worries. I'm fine with you checking up on me. You're pretty nice, umm...What was it, Charity?" Fuyuki referred to her by her virtue name

"You don't have to refer to me by my virtue. We all sort of call each other by names instead. The heavenly king-Dororo, sorry he's something just so powerful that I always forget to call him Dororo, says that calling us by our title dehumanizes us, and since we were all humans besides him before we died we want to keep that thread of ourselves. It makes us relate to the mortals struggle more." Momoka explained

"Oh." Fuyuki answered having forgotten her name.

"It's Momoka." She curtsied politely answering him.

"Momoka. I can remember that." He smiled, promising her that.

He had Momoka too up here, and she seemed to be the nicest and most helpful person that wasn't in his family that he had ever met.

She was pretty sweet too.

"Am I supposed to study alone or can you help me with some of this stuff? I mean you've been a virtue a lot longer than me. You must have helped countless mortals." Fuyuki pointed out.

Momoka blushed

"You give me too much credit. And even as a mortal you were a lot kinder. You made your sister's life all the more brighter just being there. It's you who was the amazing one, F-fuyuki." She told him.

Fuyuki blushed at all the praise.

He motioned for Momoka to sit down by his side though. She sat down on the clouds by Fuyuki's side.

"How by the way are you fairing to the whole lifestyle change? I remember when I first got here I missed leaving everybody I knew behind and didn't know how to handle all the power granted to me."

"I miss sis. I miss her a lot. But I'm happy that Mom is with me and it was really nice to meet you. I'm trying to keep calm about the whole unlimited power and trying to make my virtues stronger though." Fuyuki admitted

"I'm glad you have somebody by your side." Momoka blushed a lot at him liking her by his side too though. "When I came here only Koyuki and Dororo were here. It was hard to get used to two people who had been brought up as sort of gods in my time. But they were really nice. Especially Koyuki. The two of us became something like friends. It was as if I lived again as a mortal with a close female friend."

"That sounds really nice." Fuyuki himself had never had a male friend, "The world must have been a lot harsher back then when you lived with all the sins running amok and none of the virtues."

Momoka frowned

"Actually...It was still a harsh world, it really was...But back than the underworld didn't have as many sins...It was actually pretty weird...Since unlike us they weren't born as mortals too. There's nothing about them that is human." Momoka explained to Fuyuki.

Fuyuki nodded. He had known that there was nothing about the sins that was human. He thought they were honestly just a bunch of giant bugs all together and not something didn't have their own physical being.

"Well, I'm glad it wasn't as bad as it could have been. Always have to stay a bit optimistic after all." Fuyuki smiled, "Could you get me some more books on these subjects about the sins? I researched a lot when I was a mortal about some of the virtues and even the species inhabiting our home, but not about them. It sounds super cool to learn more!"

"I can get you those books immediately!" Momoka was overjoyed to help.

Fuyuki read all through the night about the sins but didn't get much new information or things about them. It was mostly their powers or ways they made the mortals miserable instead of anything about them specifically.

He still found it suspicious but he wanted to learn more.

Especially since in the books he found one page ripped out.

Fuyuki late in the night went out of his cloud chamber, patting Momoka's sleeping head who had just watched him read for hours on end before he left.

She was a really sweet girl. He wished that he could have met her when they were both alive.

"F-fuyuki..." She whispered in her sleep happy at the attention and not realizing it was real.

Fuyuki smiled and left to ask the heavenly king himself for information directly.

* * *

He found Dororo watering some sort of flowers.

"I'm just so glad I could bring flowers onto the clouds." Dororo smiled

"Hey, umm...Heavenly king?" Fuyuki asked, walking up to him.

"Please. Call me Dororo." He gave a happy smile and nodded.

"I read some books on the sins for training and some information was missing. What are the beings who inhabit the sins like? Who are they? Where do they come from? Why were they created?" Fuyuki asked

"Fuyuki, some information would cause great heartache. It's best at the moment to just remain ignorant." Dororo advised.

"What do you mean?" Fuyuki asked

"I can't tell you that, I'm sorry. It might be best if you don't look into it though." Dororo nodded only wanting to spare Fuyuki some pain he might encounter.

Fuyuki's curiosity was not calmed though.

He left Dororo to continue watering flowers and peering over the edge of the world to watch his sort of children, the mortals and instead went to the library to look for more information.

"Nothing on the shelves..." Fuyuki frowned. He knew Dororo was withholding something from him.

"Fuyuki? Is there something you need?" Koyuki yawned having fallen asleep on some books that she was putting away.

"Yeah, I wanted to figure out if there was any more information on the sins. Specifically who they are and where they came from? I mean, they aren't like us..." Fuyuki was cut off by Koyuki's yawn and obvious tiredness.

"Yes, they are." She was too tired to withhold information.

Fuyuki honestly didn't even know if virtues had to sleep but obviously Koyuki enjoyed sleep.

_Good thing she isn't sloth's opposite. That would be a problem. _He thought to himself.

"What do you mean they are?" Fuyuki asked not really wanting to take advantage of Koyuki's sleepy state but doing so anyway.

"They were mortals just like all of us. After they died they turned into sins." She yawned, "I'm going back to sleep." She nestled into her book nest as if she was a kitten.

_They were mortals too that had lives? But that would mean there was some humanity in them. That would mean they all died too... _Fuyuki was shocked at the realization.

He was also sad though.

They had lost lives and probably families too.

Maybe with this information he could make a difference though and try to forge a path of peace instead of war.

Maybe he could confront them when he was ready.

He was unaware that he was unable to chose the time they confronted him.

And it was approaching fast.


	6. Battlefield

**Uncomfortable dying whale noises at thinking about this chapter.**

**Disclaimer: I own nothing.**

**So a reminder of what each sin is since it's the sin chapter. Since it goes mortals, heavens, underworld, I'll include it.**

**Giroro: Wrath**

**Kululu: Pride and Lust**

**Keroro: Sloth and Greed**

**Tamama: Gluttony and Envy.**

**So yeah. This chapter. Uhhhh. Yeah.**

* * *

"_The people below are our children. They are innocent and more important to us than anything else." -King of the Heavens_

* * *

Giroro, or wrath as he also liked to be known, wanted a fight. But he didn't want just any fight. He didn't want something petty like playing with mortals hearts, seducing them into feeling great wrath, or using his soldiers against them.

No, he wanted something much more glorious. He wanted to fight the Heavens themselves.

He wanted to beat them, he wanted to maim them. He wanted to feel their rage.

Their war, the war between Heaven and Hell, was a battlefield. And when he was on the battlefield he just wanted to win. To attack, to breath in the smell and feeling of the battle.

He wanted to hurt and win a battle, once and for all, or at least try to.

"We're not attacking the Heavens today. I've got other plans." The lord of Hell; however, did not agree with Giroro's itch for battle, and instead in her usual cold voice rejected him.

Giroro felt broken again.

_I need to feel them lose. I need the battle. But every day she doesn't say their ready...Suppose it makes sense since they just got two new virtues and soldiers. But I don't want to wait and bide my time. _Giroro steamed at the rejection.

"Heard the lord rejected you. Harsh. Ku, ku, ku." Kululu, the sin of Pride and Lust, leaned against the wall looking down on Giroro. It was unanimous between Giroro, Keroro and Tamama that Kululu was the worst sin and the worst guy to be around.

Between his jerky attitude and constant talk of his sex life and banging of the lord that controlled them all, it was emotionally taxing just being around him.

"Shut up, Kululu." Giroro growled, "Unless you want me to put a grenade down your throat. Oh wait, you'd probably like that."

"Sorry to disappoint you, but that's not one of my kinks." Kululu answered, "And the reason I'm here at the moment isn't to flirt with you. It's to give you a rare ounce of sympathy. I saw how the lord rejects you again and again."

"...What are you hinting at? I know you want something so you might as well spit it out." Giroro answered

"I'm bored too and I'd like to battle the Heavens. Ku, ku, ku." Kululu answered, "So I'll come with you if you sneak out. I invented something that can teleport us all over this world after all. I'd like to test it."

"You...Agree with me and want to help me?" Giroro couldn't believe it, "Wait...Why didn't you ask the lord yourself if we could attack? She might listen to you. She usually does."

"Ku. She doesn't always. She's pretty controlling herself. And anyway I don't want to attack with her, I'd rather it just be us sins." Kululu answered

"She's controlling?" Giroro knew she was controlling to the rest of them, but he also knew Kululu had special...privileges due to their rather intimate relationship.

"Yep. Doesn't want me flirting with any of you. She can't control me though." Kululu answered, "Should we go see if Sloth and Envy are going to accompany us?"

"Already asked them if they were interested in battling the heavens today. Keroro wants to sleep and Tamama doesn't want to leave Keroro alone without him." Giroro answered

"Tch. Well we can do it ourselves anyway. We're stronger, well I'm stronger, than all of those virtues. They can't invent or create anything after all." Kululu pointed out

"Did that power come with becoming a sin, by the way?" Giroro asked

"Nah. It was my own thing. Kind of like your inter-dimensional weapon transportation. Let's go. Ku, ku, ku." Kululu installed his transporter and pushed Giroro in. He didn't apologize.

* * *

The two of them found themselves on a floating cloud. It was soft and everything was bright and sunny.

"I'm suddenly glad that I live in the underworld. It's way too bright here. Ku, ku, ku." Kululu liked dark things and more closed off spaces.

"Let's begin the assault." Giroro smiled firing a weapon towards a sort of castle thing.

They tried to cause as much destruction as possible before the Heavens caught them.

* * *

It wasn't long before the familiar virtues that Giroro and Kululu were much more acquainted with charged at them.

"Why if it isn't, charity? Ku, ku, ku. Can't do anything to me though." Kululu prodded at Momoka, who was one of the more useless in battle.

"The king of the heavens...Dororo is going to punish you!" Momoka told them. Kululu shot her with a raygun that electrocuted her.

Koyuki twirled through the air in somersaults. Koyuki the virtue of kindness and patience, was very good in battle and always seemed to have a kunai knife and some tricks about her.

"Hyah!" She threw some knives at Giroro and landed perfectly on the ground.

Giroro deflected them with his gun.

"Yes! This is what I wanted." Giroro enjoyed the rush of battle as he shot at Koyuki who would use something called a 'ninja art' to try to get away. "Virtues always flee instead of confronting things. It's one of their problems." He laughed

Kululu picked on Momoka who wasn't putting up a good fight. She seemed to be trying to fight back, or to focus on all the people she had helped on the mortal plane so that she could gain strength from the mortals that had her virtue to defend herself, but Kululu just kept shocking her with electrical voltage and stopping her.

"Don't hurt Momoka! She's really nice!" A new voice yelled, jumping off one of the clouds and onto the cloud Kululu and Giroro were at.

"You're one of the new virtues aren't you?" Kululu asked

"Chastity, humility, and temperance." Fuyuki recited. "And I won't let you hurt Momoka."

"Chastity?" Kululu seemed more shocked and hurt than any punch could hurt him. He looked like he honestly pitied the virtue. "You don't know what you're missing, poor kid. Ku, ku, ku. What a sucky virtue to have."

Fuyuki took a stance in front of Momoka. He didn't know what to do in a fight, but he knew he had to protect her.

Kululu laughed at him.

"Fuyuki? Are you having trouble?" Another new virtue barged in. One that looked related to Fuyuki, like she was his Mom.

"Can you...?" Fuyuki pointed to Kululu knowing that his mother was better in fights than he. She had pretty strong fists after all.

"There only two of you?" Aki seemed disappointed. "No problem, Fuyuki. I can deal with this." She smiled and punched Kululu off the cloud they were on before he could hit Fuyuki or Momoka. "You keep your little friend safe, while I go deal with him, okay?" Aki jumped off the cloud too to deal with Kululu alone.

Giroro was the only sin left and he seemed to be having the upper hand on Koyuki. She jumped out of the way of his latest shot though and it hit Fuyuki instead.

"Ahh!" Fuyuki fell to the ground in pain. His life wasn't in any danger, but it still hurt.

"Fuyuki!" Momoka tried to catch him but he landed on the ground instead. "How...How dare you hurt Fuyuki!" Momoka barged straight forward to Giroro and threw him to the ground. Giroro grabbed her though and the two begin wrestling on the ground trying to grab at each other and throw the other one off the cloud.

"I don't remember charity being this strong..." Giroro hissed

"I got a new virtue that's all my own. The one of love!" She hissed back

"Hmph. Maybe I'll just have to tear it away then!" Giroro, knowing her newest virtue was weak and still developing grabbed inside her body, his hand going through and grabbing at something much deeper, her soul.

"Darn you, Wrath. You won't beat me that easily!" Momoka, not knowing the technique Giroro was using, grabbed into his body as well, into his spiritual soul.

They both pulled at the others virtue, or sin and eventually pulled apart each with a piece.

"Ahhh!" Momoka screamed, her chest bleeding with a dark pit that now absorbed the piece of Giroro she had gained, a bit of wrath.

"Ahh!" Giroro's chest bled and the piece of love he had pulled off absorbed in his stomach too.

"That's enough." Dororo floated down onto the cloud. "You will not attack my kingdom, wrath." And with a touch of his hand while Giroro was down Giroro blasted all the way back to the underworld.

"I guess we beat them." Dororo smiled. "Good job."

* * *

"Impressive. You destroyed my invention." Kululu said meanwhile on the other cloud lower from them. "What virtue were you? I don't think I've met you. Ku, ku, ku."

"Motherhood and Diligence." Aki answered

"I can admire diligence. Ku, ku, ku. And it's nice to meet someone who's not as boring as those other virtues." Kululu put his hands up, "No reason to fight anymore. I just saw Wrath fly off in a pile of patheticness."

"You're giving up just like that?" Aki slowly put down her fists a tiny bit confused

"Sure I am. After all, I've met someone amusing. You ever get lonely in the Heavenly kingdom?" Aki was unprepared for such a random question.

"I suppose...I mean I have Fuyuki now, but there's not many people on...Momoka and Koyuki are almost like children. They're only teenagers..."

"I get lonely and bored in the underworld so that makes two of us. Here." Kululu handed her a paper card. "If you want to talk and not fight or anything like that meet me at this location. If you're curious enough or want to kill some time just go. It wouldn't benefit me to attack you and you know that you can beat me so there's really no downside." Kululu used logic

"Ummm...Why? I don't really understand why you're giving me this..." Aki was a bit confused

"Because you're hot and new and I'm the sin of lust and I'm super bored. Consider my offer and we can talk or do whatever you virtues do, or live your life in boredom and never meeting someone new. Ku, ku, ku." Kululu made the best argument of all for anything. Boredom. "Got to go now." Kululu pressed a button that he had and disappeared, teleporting away.

* * *

"So...We didn't get our butts kicked, agreed?" Giroro asked Kululu

"Eh. Worked out all well for me." Kululu shrugged. Something new had arrived and he wondered if he could play with it.

Giroro however was even more angry than usual at his loss.

* * *

**I wrote this to expand my ability in pairings. I regret so much. So much regret.**


	7. Stop Running

**Hey! I'm updating this story again. Hope you like this weird AU thing. Notes about this chapter: ...? None really.**

**Disclaimer: I do not own sgt frog.**

* * *

"_Sins are an interesting thing because, although they're supposed to hurt specifically you, I'd rather use them to hurt others instead." -Pride_

* * *

Natsumi awoke, stretching her arms and yawning.

"Morning, Fuyu - " Looking around the underground structure she had woken up in, she remembered that there was no Fuyuki to say good-morning to. He was dead and gone.

She grew quiet and covered her own arms, huddling to herself as she suddenly felt the cold pang of loneliness.

"I'm sorry, dear..." Pururu, who had lent Natsumi her room, approached the human. Natsumi knew Pururu and she would probably become very close friends in the future, but at the moment all she wanted was Fuyuki.

Instead Pururu put her arms around Natsumi's body and made some sounds from her throat resembling something that sounded like "Puru, Puru, Puru..." repeating the syllables over again like a soothing chant.

Natsumi felt at peace, keeping her mind off the loss of her family.

_I didn't know Keronians had this power... _Her eyelids drifted closed, just focusing on Pururu's voice for a few moments. "Thank you..." she finally told the frog.

"Anything for a fellow friend and female. I know how hard it is to be all alone. I mean, without Garuru I would be in your same place," she told her, rubbing her hands on Natsumi's back in a circular motion to calm her, like a healer would.

"You're lucky that you have someone like Garuru. He seems really cool." Natsumi felt a little more at ease, especially after thinking about Garuru, who seemed like a cool guy.

"Yeah. He is cool." Pururu smiled. "But you have someone too. All of us - we welcomed you into our group. You're one of us now."

Natsumi smiled. _That's right... I have a new family. _She wasn't alone. Although she'd only known them for a day, she was already feeling as if she belonged, at least with Pururu.

She would have a home again.

* * *

Garuru stood in the largest cave, standing tall, his body demanding respect and presence. He was like his own warrior, determined to survive the world that had turned against all of them.

"I see that you managed to get a good night of rest even though it was your first night on your own, Natsumi." Garuru noted that her eyes were not baggy, and he even addressed her by her first name instead of her last, due to not understanding last names.

Natsumi rubbed her eyes. Although she had been sad and filled with fear, she had still needed rest and been exhausted and had fallen asleep quite easily. She merely nodded at Garuru.

"What are we all gathered here for?" she asked, having noted that the rest of their group was looking to Garuru as if he was their leader and like they were having a meeting.

"Every morning we gather and make our plans for the day," Garuru explained. "Since you are a newcomer it would be best that you merely observe and try not to interrupt."

Natsumi bit her tongue, not quite liking how he was speaking to her as if she were delicate and damaged. _I'm just as strong as the rest of them here!_

"Now... We've been running low on food and I doubt this underground system will last for long. It doesn't seem as secure as I would like it to be and ripe for cave-ins." Garuru crossed his arms, waiting for suggestions.

"I think we should stay here for just one more night." Tororo was the first to pipe up with his suggestion. "Well... long enough for us to go out and observe the area to try and gather information as to where the freest areas are from those hellspawns, those creatures from the underworld... We'll see if they're migrating or something like that and go the opposite direction to where they're heading, to keep as safe as possible."

Garuru nodded as he listened. "Smart and safe."

"I think we should find more people and try to make a community!" Taruru piped up, raising his hand. "Then we'll move around with all of them!"

"More people usually means more mouths to feed and possibly a power struggle which would be best to keep out of," Garuru pointed out.

"I think we should do the beginnings of Tororo's plan, but disguise ourselves as scavengers and move with them, until we find a new safe location to spend the week at," Zoruru put in.

Garuru frowned. "That just seems impractical."

Natsumi frowned too. _Why are all there ideas short-term solutions? They all involve running, or hiding or never really finding a home... _She turned to Pururu, hoping that at least her new friend would take a stance against the things that had ripped all their families away from them.

"I'll be fine with whatever you decide, Garuru." Pururu smiled, taking the worst stance of all. Natsumi frowned even deeper.

She was done staying quiet.

"I have an idea." Natsumi didn't really, but she had a stance, a position that she was devoted to.

"You're not supposed to speak on your first meeting, human..." Zoruru growled, venom in his voice.

"It's brave, but also stupid of you to disobey me. But I'll hear you out since we're all in this together," Garuru decided.

"Let's not run away." Natsumi spoke the words as if it was the most simple idea ever.

"Great idea," Tororo laughed. "Anyone could have told you that sort of fantasy and wishful thinking. Pu, pu, pu."

"No. I mean, let's not hide or run anymore. We've all had families, homes, everything taken from us. And I am sick of it. We should stop this. We should stop constantly running. Let's look for a place, but not for a week, not for a month, but forever. Let's make a base and fortify it with the strongest defenses. We have a group of all sorts of abilities and potential. We each have strength and overcome our own personal struggles. Together, if we pool our strengths and cover each others weaknesses I think we can make a home for all of us. Forever."

Natsumi spoke so strongly, as if she believed in her words with all her heart, that it swayed everyone at least a little bit. Something in Garuru's eyes sparked, under his vizor, although nobody could see it. It was as if he was seeing Natsumi in a new light.

"You're right. We all have strengths and talents. We're a diverse group." Garuru nodded, "I've decided we'll go with Natsumi's plan. We'll make a home. A home for all of us." He smiled a wide, toothy grin, along with everybody else.

"Hooray! We'll have a home!" Taruru jumped up and down.

"We'll leave in an hour. Everybody prepare for our trip," Garuru ordered, dismissing his group.

Natsumi smiled, feeling pride radiating off of her own body, knowing that they were doing the right thing.

* * *

After most of them had left to their own rooms, Garuru approached Natsumi to speak with her.

"You did well. That amount of leadership, strength and determination was impressive," he admitted. "I honestly haven't seen anything like it before."

Natsumi flashed him a smile. "Thank you! You're not too bad yourself. Everybody really respects and looks up to you."

Garuru nodded.

Pausing for a moment, Natsumi wondered if she should roam into unfamiliar territory. After a few seconds she decided she wasn't one to back down from a challenge. "And you're not too bad-looking."

He blushed. "You're very different from everybody else I know. You're unique." He tried another compliment. "It will be an adventure and pleasure getting to know you." With that he turned away and walked off.

Natsumi watched him go, smiling to herself. Garuru was a cool guy, very tough and inspiring. She had always expected the first guy she met to be someone like him.

_I suppose with every bad thing that happens, a new thing can come from it, _Natsumi thought to herself, realizing that she had starting at least the beginning stages of her first romance. She suspected that Garuru might possibly feel the same, too.

She was pleased.

As Natsumi left thinking that her conversation with Garuru had been one for just the two of them. She didn't notice Pururu standing in the shadows, having been picking up some things that she dropped when Natsumi and Garuru had been talking.

Pururu avoided looking at Natsumi, awkward about what she had heard. Natsumi was a nice girl, and one of the few girls she knew, but she had never expected her first female friend to start flirting with Garuru.

_I suppose sometimes expectations don't match reality, _Pururu thought to herself. She tried to brush it off, knowing Garuru was stoic enough that he was and above petty things like flirting and romance. After all, in all their years together, Garuru had never ever made a pass at her and Pururu had been by his side for a long time. Still, she couldn't help but feel the small pangs of jealousy in her heart.

She quietly picked up her things proceeded to leave.

_It won't last long. It will be over soon, _she told herself, instead of confronting Natsumi directly.

Natsumi didn't know how long their group of six would be out in the open searching for a new home. Garuru easily readied them and inspired them to leave their set of caves.

"You ready, Natsumi?" he asked her, knowing it was the first time she would be traveling with them.

She smiled back, confident and ready for the world. "You know I am. I don't shy away from new things."

"I know." He seemed impressed.

Soon, the six of them were off to walk and travel through the sandy lands that were known as the lands of the scavengers.

_It's going to be over soon, _Pururu told herself, realizing that Garuru hadn't asked how she was feeling like he usually did. Instead he paid attention to Natsumi.

* * *

It took about a day until the group made it to the ravines on the outskirts of the scavengers' land. They all had a fast pace, but the long distances between solid ground seemed impossible to jump.

"How are we going to get past that?" Tororo asked.

"It looks dangerous..." said Pururu.

"I can do it." Natsumi stood strong at all of them finding a home. "If I jump to and back with one of you in my arms each time, we can get past this ravine." Taruru, Tororo, and Zoruru didn't seem too keen in putting their lives in Natsumi's hands. Instead they paled.

"Using your longer legs as an asset. I approve," Garuru smiled. He rose his voice to order-giving level. "We'll face this obstacle."

Natsumi nodded, more confident with Garuru's complete and utter faith in her.

"Who wants to go first?" she asked.

"I will," Pururu volunteered, even though she herself was afraid of the ravine. Something inside of her didn't like the way Garuru was looking at Natsumi and vise-versa.

Nonetheless, Natsumi smiled and put Pururu in her arms. Getting a running start, she jumped over the ravine, hitting the other side and rolling, inexperienced with landings but jumping as if she had been doing so all her life.

"You're safe now. I'll do the next one." Natsumi gave a thumbs up to the boys on the other side.

Garuru breathed in, more impressed than he had ever been in his life.

"Longer legs... are indeed a force to be reckoned with..." He seemed to be transfixed with Natsumi making a jump that was impossible for him.

"Can I just throw Taruru over there for her to catch?" Zoruru off-handily asked. Garuru was unable to shake his head, still thinking of Natsumi.

And the throwing began.

* * *

After Taruru, Zoruru and Tororo had been safely transported across (well... _for the most part_), Natsumi went to retrieve Garuru, who had insisted on being last. She lifted him into her arms.

"You trust that I can do this, right?" she asked.

"Trust isn't needed with you. I know that you can," he assured her.

Natsumi's grin grew wider. Those was the sort of romantic confident words that she had always dreamed of getting from someone.

Holding him a bit closer than she had the others, and Garuru holding her in the same way, as if they were on the borderline of amorous lovers, she leaped.

Pururu watched both of them fly through the air and land easily.

"You did well. I'm honestly impressed. You really helped the team," he complimented.

"You would have done the same," Natsumi bashfully replied

"I would have, but... I've never seen someone just as capable and strong... An equal..." Garuru's words were honest. "And someone who is... as you say, not too bad-looking." Natsumi blushed at his words.

Their faces inched slightly closer, still in an embrace from the jump.

"Garuru, we should get going!" Taruru interrupted everything, still slightly bruised from Zoruru having thrown him.

Garuru withdrew himself from Natsumi and sighed. He made no promise of later, but Natsumi knew the moment would probably return to them.

"All right, we've finally made it." Garuru looked at the land they were on, rocky and weirdly proportioned, hot gas coming from the ground and holes all over the place leading to nowhere. It was ugly and terrifying, but it wasn't the land of greed.

They had left the land of greed, the barren wasteland of sand. Instead they had made it to the Land of Envy.

"We're out of the scavengers' land." Garuru exhaled, proud of his group for traveling such a distance.

They were now in the Land of Envy.

And Pururu had never felt worse as she glanced at Natsumi, still steeling glances at Garuru paying more attention to the new human than anybody else.


	8. Party of All

**Dying whale noises again for this chapter. Geez, it's difficult to write a pairing I dislike.**

**I still own nothing.**

**RunwithscissorsXXXbattlescars is my beta.**

* * *

"_Family is something so rare, because in this world they're almost always broken up. That's why we have to stay together." -A mother_

* * *

Streamers of all colors fell down throughout the clouds. Music played from nowhere.

They were partying.

And it was one of the most blissful and beautiful things Fuyuki had ever seen.

"We repelled a direct attack from the underworld! We have every reason to celebrate!" Dororo chuckled, quite pleased.

A direct attack was a big thing. Usually the two sides just attacked each other by using the mortals, the middle ground, as their pieces, almost as if they were playing chess.

Koyuki jumped around as she hung banners in the air, letting them float on nothing.

"Does... Does that happen often?" Fuyuki asked. He hadn't done much in the fight and he realized that if this job was one dependent on hand-to-hand combat, he wasn't ever going to get very far.

"No." Dororo shook his head, "But it does happen occasionally. The sins... have a lot more of a desire to battle than we do... Especially Wrath, but I suppose that goes with his sin." Dororo frowned, but looked at Fuyuki calmly. "Do not worry. I should be able to repel them whenever they attack. After all, it is I who rule over this kingdom, not they."

"Dororo has a lot more power than the sins anyway," Koyuki said, drawing a little period in the air with her fingers and pointing to the top where Dororo would be.

"Because he's the heavenly king?" Fuyuki nodded as if it made sense to him, "But... what if... the Lord of Hell shows up in battle with them? Is the ruler of Hell evenly matched with Dororo?"

Fuyuki had only heard stories about the ruler of the underworld, the ruler being a strong force of pure evil, ruling over all of the sins and being stronger than each of them. He had only heard legends, but he knew it would be a tight battle if that enemy showed up.

Dororo and Koyuki gave each other a glance as if they were sharing a secret message about Fuyuki's questions. "I don't know. She's never showed up into battle... Since we've never attacked her territory, she's never had to defend it, and from what I've seen, she's more of the type to send troops into battle than battle herself."

Fuyuki was a bit shocked at the knowledge that the Lord of the Underworld was female. He hadn't really ever imagined the lord as a girl. Maybe that was just him being stupid, though.

"Or she's got a whole other agenda we don't know about," said Koyuki. "I'm not too sure. I've never met or seen her so we can only guess what she's like from the type of battles she initiates. If she does ever show up into battle it'll be a surprise and we'll be... at a huge disadvantage because we don't know what we're up against."

"You mean you guys have never seen the Lord of the Underworld?" Fuyuki asked.

Koyuki shook her head.

"I've seen her a few times, when this world first came to be, but we didn't speak... Not much more than a few words to each other," Dororo admitted. "But the beginning of our world... and what I know of her is a story for another time. Right now it's a time to party!" Dororo shook his small body a bit as if he were a bum.

Momoka groaned from the background.

"What's wrong, Momoka? Do you not like the streamers?" Koyuki frowned as she jumped to Momoka's side and held the girl's hand.

Momoka touched her chest, the blood having dried up into dark sticky black tar.

"I absorbed a piece of wrath... It stings a little... Most of all, I'm scared..."

Fuyuki recalled Giroro's - or Wrath's - battle with Momoka and what had been absorbed into Momoka's chest. He scolded himself for getting distracted by questions when Momoka was in pain.

"Don't worry, Momoka!" He bent down and held her hand as if to give it a squeeze. "Dororo will get that fixed up in no time. He's the heavenly king, after all." Fuyuki still didn't know how all of their powers worked, but he knew Dororo ruled over this whole kingdom and was either the strongest force in the world or one of the strongest forces in the world.

But Dororo only shook his head.

"I'm sorry... This... has never happened before. I do not know how to heal it," he apologized. "But do not be scared. It's probably nothing. Time heals all wounds and this one just may be like a flesh wound. It will heal."

Momoka seemed a bit more at ease.

"Now... let's dance." Dororo smiled and guided them off with a brief gesture.

Helping Momoka to her feet, Fuyuki twirled her around to try to ease her mind from the fear of the battle. They smiled at each other, the two of them waltzing on the clouds as if they were the only ones there.

* * *

Aki watched her son dance with the other virtue and smiled. Her head may have not been in the whole entire party, but she could at least enjoy that aspect for him.

She felt lonely though, watching her son grow up and have his first dance with a girl.

And her mind drifted back to the location and time the sin of Pride had written down for her. Curiosity compelled her to meet him.

And also desire. They had seemed to click in their previous conversation. Perhaps the sins weren't as bad as she had been told? She hadn't had a significant other since Haru's death... Maybe there were ways other than battle to stop this war. After all, the virtue of love had just been created. Love was one of those things that people told you solved all problems.

Or... maybe he just wanted sex.

And Aki, bored and curious as she was, decided that wasn't a bad thing either. She was an adult. She didn't need to be told what was right and wrong, didn't need to see the world in black and white. She could decide for herself.

And so, she slipped out of the party while the other virtues weren't looking, to meet with the sin in secret, where he had told her.

* * *

The two met up in the Kingdom of Lust, somewhere she had never been when she was a mortal due to its danger, but now had no fear of. Nobody knew what the Kingdom of Lust looked like, and for a very good reason. The whole thing took on the form you most wished to trap you there for the Deceivers, Lust's creatures, to get you. Aki held no fear over the kingdom any longer, having been invited there for a meeting. She knew she was no longer a mortal and that the Deceivers couldn't affect her.

"You came," Kululu, the sin of Pride and Lust, noted as he sat around on a random lounge chair.

"I did. I was curious as to what you wanted," Aki admitted. "My name's Aki. Aki Hinata." She tried to remember the name of the sin, what to call him, but Kululu never spoke and offered up any name other than Pride.

"I'll try to remember that, Aki Hinata. And I think you know what I want. Just some company, to get to know you, stuff like that. Ku, ku, ku." Aki couldn't decipher the sin's tone, if he was having honest intentions out of loneliness or just wanted her company in a different way.

She didn't see any harm in telling him about herself though. She was a tough woman, and if he tried to use the information against her, she'd just punch him.

"You already know a bit about me. I just became a virtue..." Aki was cut off.

"Not about your virtue. Ick. I want to know about _you_. Ku ku ku! Makes things more interesting."

Aki smiled. Not many people she had met had wanted to know about her, especially the other virtues besides Fuyuki. They just wanted her to recite her virtues and help protect them.

"I... I have two kids... One of them is still in the mortal plane," she admitted, wondering how he'd take it that she had kids. He probably already knew since she was the virtue of motherhood.

"Who got you pregnant?" Kululu was blunt. "He still alive?"

"No. Haru died some time ago when Fuyuki was still very little. He was a kind, but rather foolish, man. He wanted to map out the entire world and adventure, and that got him killed," she spoke.

Kululu nodded, not pressing for any more details.

"Shouldn't have left a voluptuous woman like you! Ku, ku, ku. He lost his chance and now other men, like me, can express their interest."

Aki didn't doubt that if Haru were still in the picture that Kululu would have expressed his interest anyway. She smiled watching Kululu examine her, and check out her body.

She had to admit she liked the attention, and even had missed it a bit.

"I like adventure, too, but mostly actions. Like the action in stories, although I'm not below partaking in action myself. You know that." She smiled.

"Ku, ku, ku. I prefer intellectually stimulating stories myself," Kululu shared.

Aki's grin grew wider.

This was what she wanted. Someone not only physically attracted to her, but someone interesting and stimulating to the mind as well, and someone who would listen to her. She knew now that the connection she had first envisioned with the other sin wasn't made up; it was a two-sided thing that existed, something that could be harnessed and become something physical and mental - something that would stick, unlike Haru.

Something forbidden and adventurous, just like a story.

Aki felt herself growing exited.

"What do you think about art? I really like it. I like drawing," said Aki. "I like sports too."

"I would love to watch you do all those things," Kululu told her, not taking a direct stance on the matter, but making it seem like he was the perfect guy for her.

Aki moved closer to him and leaned down, letting him nearer to her chest as she unbuttoned her shirt. Hopefully he was growing excited as well.

"Did you come here to begin a sexual relationship with me?" She worded her words carefully. She was beginning to be attracted to the much smaller, unique sin below her. Even if what he was interested in was a one-night stand it would be exciting. And it would probably sooth her for at least a couple years. Who knew; they might initiate it again in the future.

"That's right." Kululu was blunt, not denying anything about his advancements. "You're interesting, and you're also very physically appealing. I'd love to as you phrased 'begin' a sexual relationship with you, ku, ku, ku."

Aki felt her heart race at the promise of more secret meetings like the one now. She knew he hadn't outright stated he liked her, but what could she expect from the sin of Pride as far as directness went?

_Our connection is a mental and physical one. _Aki knew this, in her heart and her head. _I'm not naive. I can tell._

"Then take me. I'd love for you to do me right here and now," she asked of him, filled with desire for Kululu as well.

Kululu smirked, and hurriedly, not being needed to be told a second time, began removing Aki's shirt and articles of clothing.

Just as all her buttons were undone, he stopped, frowning and feeling his headphones.

"Ku. Darn." He paused. "I'm being called away by the Lord of Hell. Gotta go." He seemed unhappy by this fact, not really liking being ordered around.

"Can our leaders do that? Just order you away?" Aki asked, still being new to this thing.

"Yeah. We can hear their commands in our head," he explained. Aki felt pity for the sin, being forced away in such a manner and being controlled by such an evil being.

_Maybe its not the sins that are the ones at fault for this mess, but the Lord of the Underworld controlling them? _Aki thought to herself.

"Will I see you again?" she asked... although she knew the answer would be a yes.

Kululu leaned upward and gave her a kiss, one filled with mostly tongue, sparking her desire for him even more.

Whether it a good-bye kiss or one to drive her even crazier with desire, she didn't know.

He handed her another calling card, withdrawing their tongues quickly. "Here's another card with the location and time."

Before she could say anything else or kiss him again, he was gone.

Her desire was not.

She sighed, not realizing that she had already let the lust into her system.


	9. Distraction or Betrayal

**Someday I'm hoping to turn this into three stories with a lot more detail and world building instead of one.**

**Disclaimer: Still own nothing.**

* * *

"_Good and evil sadly aren't just black and white. Although we try to be the white, things are much more complex than that. The scale is much more colorful than we think." -The King of the Heavens_

* * *

It was so easy to con her. Well, not really. He wasn't even really conning her. She had just instantly believed that there was some sort of emotional and deep connection between the two of them. And Kululu had helped the notion along by not stomping the first sign of it.

She had a very well developed body, and that was all that really mattered to him. She would be his first sexual encounter outside of the Lord. It was dangerous, but it would also give him something he wanted even more than sex, the knowledge that he wasn't being forced to do things by someone that wasn't him. The sin of Pride was way more powerful than the sin of Lust in him, after all.

_Ku! That I have feelings for her. She couldn't be even more wrong. I don't ever feel anything, _Kululu thought to himself.

He was wrong.

There was one emotion that he felt that he had, one that he hated even more than any other emotion. One emotion that he called a slew of different names for.

The truth was, he himself wasn't completely sure what this emotion was, and he tried to feel it as rarely as he could.

Sometimes he couldn't escape it, try as he might.

Fear.

* * *

"YOU INVADED THE HEAVENS WITHOUT MY PERMISSION?"

The Lord of Hell seemed to bellow in anger at the sin of Wrath. Her eyes and voice felt anger, but her body was frozen, keeping a calm composure still sitting on her throne of bones.

Giroro tried to stand calmly, although he wanted to challenge her authority. He had seen others, such as Tamama, do so, and it hadn't ended well for him.

"I had to! They were getting cocky! They had new Virtues. We had to show them we were stronger!" Giroro made his claim as if somehow the Lord would see reason.

"We're stronger than them. We always will be. There is nothing to worried about. It was expected that Fuyuki Hinata would join their ranks, after all," said the Lord.

Giroro didn't know how the Lord knew the new Virtue's name, or how she could apparently tell the future now. Then again, he should have seen it. Sometimes he couldn't help but suspect the Lord had psychic powers and tendencies, given the situation.

"I needed to fight! I'm the sin of Wrath, I had to kill something!" he bellowed.

"You lost. And now our pride has been damaged." The Lord looked at Giroro as if he was a failure.

"Our pride? Pride lost too! He came with me. He was at just as much fault as I was!" Giroro shifted the blame to Kululu in his anger, wanting Kululu to take responsibility, too.

"Kululu came with you? And went in a battle I didn't authorize?" The Lord seemed to be piecing this together, before betrayal ran through her. "WHERE IS HE?"

Kululu was going to get chewed out. Or destroyed. Whichever came first.

Giroro tried to back away, just as Kululu entered the room.

"Hello there, sorry I'm late, not really. Ku, ku, ku," he laughed

"Kululu!" the Lord's voice accused. "Explain your actions!" She stood up, her body radiating pure terror.

"I was bored, so I picked a fight and used Giroro as bait," Kululu told her, "Nothing out of the ordinary. Don't worry, your sexy studmuffin is still in tact." Kululu struck a self-indulgent pose.

Giroro wanted to clobber him as well after the confession about using him as bait.

There was one thing he didn't understand. Why was Kululu was in such a good mood after losing?

_He's not afraid of the Lord punishing him, either... I bet he's using his relationship... or disgusting sexual tendencies to please her and gain extra privilege, _Giroro thought to himself.

The Lord looked at him for a moment, at first glaring and then eventually letting her glares fade. She let her body crumple under her to sit next to him.

"Don't do it again," she ordered, "Only leave when I authorize it. You're mine, after all."

"Yeah, yeah, okay. Can I go now?" Kululu waved his hand, ready to leave.

Giroro turned around, ready to leave as well, since he saw that the Lord wasn't in as angry a mood, and that if he knew anything about Kululu, one thing would probably lead to another and the two would have sex and he didn't want to be there when it happened.

As he left the doorway, still not hearing any moaning and grunting yet, he realized that things were oddly tranquil. He turned around to see if they were dead.

Instead he saw Kululu shaking as the Lord stared at him, just watching him.

_Ah, it's one of these moments. _Giroro grinned and leaned on the doorway to watch Kululu, his least favorite Sin, in pain.

Sometimes things would get weird between the lord of Hell and Kululu, and Kululu would be just as frightened of her as the rest of them were.

It wasn't in the face of her overwhelming power, though. Instead, it was in the face of what he called "innocence," in all ways the opposite of what the Lord of Hell was. Kululu would gag and shake and freak out horribly when being looked at, and it was hilarious.

"S-s-stop... Stop it!" Kululu tried to order, stuttering a lot and shaking.

"Kululu..." The Lord of Hell gave a small, almost content smile.

What was terrifying was it honestly did look a bit innocent, and Giroro wanted to run for cover, too.

_Sometimes the world turns upside-down... But I must endure it to see Kululu suffer! _Giroro reminded himself as he awkwardly watched the two's exchange.

The Lord got an odd look as she was looking at Kululu - not one of pure bliss, but of nostalgia, a nostalgia that was now gone.

"Have you ever heard of dating? It's something mortals do."

"Dating?" Kululu asked, happy that at least she was talking now instead of staring at him in pure utter silence, him being unable to even guess what she was thinking.

"People... who are in a relationship usually do it. Have you ever thought... maybe we should, too?" the Lord asked hesitantly.

_Yep. Maybe I should leave. Things are going back to awkward. They'll be banging in a few seconds if this keeps up. Going to leave now, _Giroro decided.

"And what would we... the lord of Hell itself and the sin of Lust and Pride do, if we hypothetically went on a date?" Kululu asked, terrified but also curious.

_I didn't con Aki Hinata, but it would be fun to properly con her and get her even more in the mood with this dating thing, h_e thought to himself, remembering Aki and also curious as to what the Lord of Hell would say would be appropriate dates.

"Well..." The Lord of Hell took a deep breath. "...usually couples do all sort of cute things like see little explosions in the sky. We could hold hands and go star-watching... we could take a trip on the water, just you and me, and there would be rose petals and maybe a sunrise and we could let everything be in peace for the day to celebrate our relationship and we could kiss and..." The Lord of Hell's eyes sparkled as she went on and on about the most cute and absurdly romantic ideas that she could conjure up. She spoke fast, her thoughts and sentences never ending.

It was the last thing Giroro had ever expected to come out of the Lord of Hell's mouth and he didn't completely disagree with Kululu when Kululu screamed loudly.

"AHHHH! NO NEVER! That sounds like the worst possible torture that anyone could think up!" Kululu almost ran out of the room, until he realized the Lord of Hell's hand was on his, holding him down. "N-no..." He turned away. "Never ever!" He tried not to look at her, not knowing how to take the dating offer with her, another weird emotion bubbling up in his stomach that he didn't like.

_I'm a Sin. I was the first one around. I don't feel things. Stop it, _he told himself in a sort of hypnotic way, as if only it might brainwash him. It worked, and his fright eventually died.

The Lord of Hell looked at him, hurt on her face from the obvious rejection. She didn't yell surprisingly and instead just looked at him.

To Kululu this was the worst torture of all.

He took her hand off his and ran out, letting the emotion of fear take control of him - because that emotion was so much better than another one he was currently feeling, or was about to - guilt.

An emotion that only the Lord herself could bring out of him. He ran past Giroro, not even taking any notice of him.

Outside the throne room, he clutched his heart to try and dispel the sickening image of her face looking at him in the way a hurt puppy would have looked at somebody. Blasted emotions like those he tried to shake off; he knew he should not have been feeling them.

He needed a distraction.

_I have one. Aki Hinata is the perfect source of a distraction. And only such a sinful being like me would ask her out after rejecting the Lord of Hell herself. _As was usual of Kululu, he smirked.

He would woo Aki into bed. He had no feelings and no emotions, only pride and lust. He was a jerk; that was it.

He didn't feel things like fear, guilt, and shame.

And he certainly didn't feel whatever that other feeling was. The one that terrified him the most and he couldn't name.

It didn't exist.

_I need to go see Aki. I need her. _He needed Aki right now in ways that he would never tell anyone. To make him forget his other feelings, to pretend they didn't exist.

He went off to meet her in their meeting space.

* * *

Kululu met Aki easily, looking only slightly unnerved.

"Pride? Are you okay?" Aki asked. Kululu smiled.

_Just what I needed. Someone referring to me as my Sin name, unlike the Lord does. Ku. She doesn't respect me. Aki does,_ he thought to himself.

"Much better after seeing you." He made up some stupid line that he didn't believe at all, but one he knew she'd fall for. She smiled.

"Did... your meeting with the lord go badly?" she asked.

"Yeah," he told her, deciding to drum up some sympathy, "Do you... want to maybe... go on a date? I heard mortals sometimes do that sort of thing." He tried to make himself sound interested. It was quite easy. After all, he saw most of this as a game.

Aki smiled wider than usual. Appealing to her old mortal tendencies seemed to be the perfect answer. "I'd love to. But when?"

"Now," he insisted. "I'll order my minions to make some sort of fancy restaurant... And afterwards we'll find a little secluded area and I'll ravage you." He whispered the last part into her ear, trying for the appropriate dirty talk. Aki giggled.

"I suppose having dinner with a girl is quite gentlemanly. I didn't see you as that type of guy, honestly," she admitted.

"Ku, ku, ku. You're worth being a gentleman to for at least an hour, but I've got to warn you, I'm not as much of a gentleman in bed," he warned, hoping to turn her on.

He did. She blushed and he could see the excitement in her eyes.

* * *

With the press of an inventive button, a restaurant that he had modeled after some of the things in Gluttony's kingdom appeared before the two of them.

He had expected the date to go rather smoothly, just listening to Aki's boring stories, taking some of them in and looking at her as a specimen of research due to her mortal and virtue tendencies. Uunfortunately, things did not goexactly as planned.

Building a restaurant had attracted Gluttony himself to the place, knowing whenever and wherever knew food came to be.

"I want to eat here! It looks fancy! And untainted by human remains so far!" Tamama piped up, interrupting the date by walking into the restaurant. His jaw dropped open when he saw Kululu with a Virtue. "Kululu? And... whoever you are... What are you doing here? And more importantly what are you doing eating food without me?" Tamama whined.

"We're on a date. Don't interrupt." Aki stood her ground on her date, even though another Sin stood in front of her.

"Yeah!" Kululu agreed. The thrill of being found out excited him, but also terrified him. "I should... speak to him for a second. I'll be right back," he promised. Aki nodded as he dragged Tamama away.

"Tell the Lord and you have my complete guarantee that your life will become miserable. Kuuuu, ku ku ku ku ku." Kululu's laugh was more sinister and threatening than normal.

Tamama shivered.

"Wasn't planning to. I don't like her, so I don't plan to tell her," he assured him.

Kululu nodded, knowing that was true. It made him feel secure - a little worried, though. He decided to end his date with Aki early.

_It will make our next meeting even more dangerous and even more kinky, since I'll have more time to plan for it, _Kululu thought to himself. He knew the third meeting would be the one that didn't stop him, and that Aki, having to wait for him, was now even more aroused than ever.

He left Tamama to himself so that he could continue his date and eventually tell her the bad news that he'd have to leave early and set a time for the third date.

* * *

Tamama didn't like the lord, that much was true; however, he was also a blabber mouth. After leaving Kululu and Aki alone, he eventually spilled the whole story to Keroro.

"And Kululu is cheating on the Lord! He's got a death wish! He's dating and going to sleep with a Virtue! And he didn't give me any food at the restaurant he went to!"

Kululu had told Tamama not to tell the Lord, but he didn't say anything about not telling Keroro.

What Tamama didn't know was that the Lord of Hell was behind him, having been watching Keroro work and giving him more pointless tasks, one of her favorite pastimes.

"Kululu... DID WHAT?" The Lord's hands shook as she heard Tamama's news. Her eyes glowed in her golden fury.

Her whole body shook as if she was about to destroy everything.

It was as if the world would crumble in her anger.

Some would say it even did.


	10. Flooded Out

**Still don't own anything.**

* * *

"_Willpower doesn't stop death. It can only help cause it." -The Lord of Hell_

* * *

Garuru and Natsumi didn't stop talking and sharing ideas, or as everyone else could see it, flirting.

The two always seemed to be glancing at each other, helping each other out jumping over holes, making decisions for the whole group on how they would travel along the border between the two lands, Envy's and Greed's land. It was as if Garuru and Natsumi were the only two people even _there_.

At least, that was how Pururu saw it as she watched both of them share stories about their pasts with each other.

Pururu's eyes narrowed, glaring into each of their backs with daggers. She didn't say anything to their faces, about how their flirting was loud and annoying and how they should keep their heads in the mission they had set out on. Instead she played a supportive role whenever one of the two of them looked at her.

Zoruru seemed to be the only one to notice Pururu's intense dislike of the current situation and her unhappy mood.

Standing by her side as the six of them continued walking each person having another person by their side, he touched her shoulder with his gray keronian hand to get her attention.

"Why don't you say anything?" he asked, seeing her look again at Garuru congratulating Natsumi for her strength in how easily she climbed walls that were much higher to them than her.

"About what?" Pururu asked, playing dumb.

"Them. Everybody knows you've liked Garuru, for... well, forever. I guess not everybody knows... The new girl surely doesn't," he said to her.

"What would I say? I have no right to butt into their relationship. It's not my place," she said, speaking under her breath so the front of the group wouldn't hear them.

"I don't know. I don't do anything relationship-like. Maybe something like 'I like Garuru too.' Or maybe flirt with him yourself. Let him know you're interested and that that new human isn't the only girl around," Zoruru replied.

Pururu looked down, not looking like she liked the idea of making a claim on Garuru or attempting to flirt with Garuru in any way. "I...I can't..." She finally said with a sigh.

"Why? Because you're scared? Scared people don't gain the things they want. Scared people die." Zoruru told her.

"I can't claim Garuru's heart because we're never going to be together! Ever!" she said.

"Why not? You're just as cool - actually, a lot cooler than that new girl." Zoruru wasn't that great with relationship advice; he'd never had or wanted much experience with it himself.

"Because... there's one thing I know Garuru loves more than that new girl Natsumi, or us, his own group, or me - and it's his brother. His _dead_ brother, might I remind you. And I'm... his brother's childhood friend. That's the only reason he keeps me around and cares for me at all, because I'm the only link to his brother for him. I keep him sane and able to cope with the loss of his brother, but I also constantly trigger him, reminding him that his brother's dead. He'll never touch or love me as long as he lives, because to him... I'm just a reminder." Pururu wiped away the dampness coming forth to her eyes, then played with her hands absentmindedly, trying not to think of the said truth.

Zoruru didn't say anything or try to dissuade her from her thinking. He wasn't in Garuru's and Pururu's past and couldn't ever hope to understand it.

He was just happy that he'd never had to deal with losing someone, having been alone his entire life, abandoned by even his parents.

He didn't give Pururu any words of comfort, either. That wasn't who he was. Instead he yelled at Garuru and Natsumi loudly. "Pipe down with your disgusting flirting! It's making everybody more nauseous than if we came face to face with one of Gluttony's creatures!"

Natsumi blushed and turned away from Garuru. Garuru cleared his throat awkwardly, but it seemed to quiet both of the two of them down.

Zoruru smiled, the flesh on his lips turning upward on the corners, although Pururu couldn't see due to the small mask he wore. He gave Pururu a discreet fist-bump.

Pururu smiled back at Zoruru. _I may not have love with Garuru, but at least I have a good friend in Zoruru. _She had something. She just needed to cherish it instead of focusing on the bad things.

* * *

Natsumi and Garuru had finally quieted down for a while as the group of six continued walking.

"Let's stop for a meal break," said Garuru. He didn't know if the area was safe, but having decided to travel closer to the border of the land of Greed instead of venturing deeper into the land of Envy made him believe that he could see any threats approaching, or any Scavengers.

Scavengers probably wouldn't enter the land of Envy, though, unless there was something big that happened.

Sitting down by the rest of the group, Garuru begin to split up some food rations for each of them.

Tororo made a face at the disgusting food given to him, but Garuru silenced him by stuffing the food straight into the tadpole's mouth before he could complain too much.

"Eat up," he ordered, and Tororo reluctantly obeyed.

Finally feeling at peace for at least a moment, Garuru sat down to relax.

That was when the ground started shaking - shaking in a way that at first was just a few shakes, as if they had all imagined it, but then much huger shakes, the ground and world making loud noises and shaking below each of them.

Nothing like it had ever happened before. The quakes had never happened on their land. And now they rumbled through the earth like the planet itself was shaking.

Garuru sat up and jumped forward, tackling Taruru, who he felt was in danger, as he had been a few feet away just as a giant rift opened where Taruru had been sitting.

"Ahhh!" Taruru screamed, realizing that he could have died.

Garuru was now alert to the world around him and used his body language to lead his group.

"Earthquake!" Natsumi named the shaking, confused on what to do as she tried to fight her instincts to fight, since she couldn't fight the planet itself. The humans had always called the planet Earth, so the name earthquake seemed appropriate.

"Everyone seek shelter!" Garuru ordered, trying to stay strong. He needed to lead his comrades.

However, a bug-like scream echoed in Garuru's ears, and he and the rest of his group turned to see a swarm of scavengers heading over to where they were.

"Why - ?" Pururu's eyes were watering. Why were the scavengers coming over here?

"The Lands of Envy have mountains... Pu pu pu... But when the ground itself is breaking, why would they want more of it?" Tororo wondered, being the intellectual one.

The answer was soon given to them as a snapping sound entered all of their ears.

Garuru's head turned the slowest to the direction of the snapping sound.

The ground was shaking so hard that a dam, specifically a dam holding acid, had broken. A river of acid was now heading straight for all of them.

"What do we do?" Natsumi, for the first time looked to someone else for advice. They were all going to die without a firm plan of action.

Garuru knew no plan, though. He was more frozen to his spot than the ground was. The only movement he made was from the ground throwing him around.

An acid flood - the very thing that had taken Giroro from him - was repeating itself once more.

And there was no chance to stop it. They would all die.

A voice snapped Natsumi out of her panic, and lack of thought. "_Believe in yourself and the plan of action should appear_."

Everybody else was running around wildly trying to avoid the holes in the ground and hide from the scavengers who were approaching faster and faster, so Natsumi was the only one who had heard it.

She turned and looked around, finally looking up to see a white-haired boy smiling and sitting on a high hill. His voice echoed throughout the wind but the distance between them and the highest point made it hard to hear his words.

Natsumi listened anyway.

"Believe in yourself. You'll find the answer if you listen," was all he said. He was trying to inspire her. Soon enough, though, the white haired boy ran off, not towards them, but in the opposite direction of the hill, only proving to help them through his words.

Natsumi frowned, but as she looked again to where the white-haired human had occupied, she realized that there was now a very secure uninhibited hill that was within eyesight.

_That's where the scavengers are heading. They know the acid probably won't get them if they're that high_, she realized.

"Guys!" She pointed to the hill. "If we get up there, we'll be safe! We just need to run and fight off the scavengers!"

The panic stopped as everyone processed Natsumi's plan.

Garuru gave a quick nod and they all ran, but their speed wasn't fast enough to outrun the fearful scavengers.

They were seconds away from impact.

"I'll stay and fight to keep the scavengers off from the hill!" Garuru ordered. "The rest of you climb up to safety!"

"I'll fight too," Natsumi told him. Garuru didn't argue with her strength as she turned face-to-face with one of her fears - one of the things that had taken her family away from her. She punched with all her might, sending the huge bug-like creatures flying.

"I wouldn't want it any other way," Garuru replied as sent some of his own hits.

Zoruru, Taruru, and Tororo turned towards the hill and began to climb.

Pururu stayed where she was.

"I'm not leaving you, either!" Pururu told him stubbornly. _I can't leave Garuru alone and just be useless. Not to face his fears alone. That, and I'm the only person who has any medical knowledge. I need to stay by his side!_

"Pururu... Go up the hill to safety, now!" Garuru growled. Pururu stood her ground as Garuru took out a weaponized gun and shot at scavengers.

She thought she'd be safe.

* * *

Zoruru helped Taruru and Tororo up the hill, helping them climb the rocky surface. Looking down briefly, he saw Garuru and Natsumi fighting as the acid in the distance neared.

Pururu stood in the background, not climbing or leaving Garuru's side.

_Stupid! She'll get killed that way! _Zoruru thought. After pushing Tororo upwards onto a safer ledge, he pulled Taruru towards himself to look him in the eyes.

"I have to leave and help Pururu. Protect Tororo, no matter what. Not only is he the youngest and weakest among us; he's also my best friend and I'm not leaving him unprotected." Zoruru ordered.

"You can count on me, Zoruru! I'll protect him, even if it costs me my life!" Taruru vowed. Zoruru nodded. Taruru might not have been the strongest or even the bravest, but the time had come to give the little blue guy some responsibility, and he hoped his trust wasn't misplaced.

Skidding down the hill, Zoruru hoped all would go safely.

* * *

"Where'd Zoruru go? Pu, pu, pu?" Tororo hadn't heard Taruru and Zoruru's conversation

"He has to help Pururu; she's not leaving the battlefield," Taruru answered. "Don't worry, I'll help you." He pointed his chest upward strongly. His time had come. He would prove himself as a strong member of their group.

"I don't need your help." Tororo complained. Grabbing a piece of stone that was still shaking, he managed to climb up another ledge.

"Careful!" Taruru told him as he helped himself up. He was going at a pretty slow pace,though.

"Do you hear something?" Tororo asked. There was some sort of buzzing in his ears.

"Nope!" Taruru hummed.

Tororo turned around and screamed as a stray scavenger from the battlefield stood right behind Taruru.

"What is it, Tororo? Don't worry! I promised Zoruru I'd protect you no matter what! I'll even lay down my life for my promise!" Taruru boasted.

"Taruru... r-run!" Tororo squeaked out before the scavenger leaned its giant jaws down and chomped Taruru up like a bite-sized snack.

Tororo didn't even get to hear his scream.

Refusing to let his body be paralyzed in shock, he instead climbed faster than he had ever climbed before. Gripping strongly, he let the still shaking ground topple the scavenger back down to its death.

It was too late for Taruru. He was already chewed up, and his remains were probably somewhere not yet digested.

Tororo curled up on the top of the hill after a hard climb, silently crying, fearfully and hoping his skin blended into the dirt.

It did.

Nothing had to protect him, because he was alone, from enemies, and from companions.

* * *

A scavenger approached Pururu as she tried to stay by Garuru's side and not get hurt herself. Its pincer-like claws reached for her tiny Keronian body.

"No!" Garuru shot at the scavenger, hitting it, although his eyes remained on the approaching acid falling through some hole-like cracks, but still making its way toward them.

The scavenger's pincers still hit Pururu's legs, clamping down and injuring both of them as it pulled her upwards and dropped her back to the ground right as it died.

Garuru caught her.

"Go to the hill! Natsumi and I will handle this!" he ordered again.

"I... I need to help, too!" she told him, refusing to be useless. Her voice sounding weak though, on the verge of collapsing from the scavengers' onslaught.

Zoruru finally greeted the three of them, Natsumi making the most progress in battle. It would be impossible to fight them all off.

_She's being stubborn. She refuses to leave because of her fear of losing Garuru, _Zoruru realized. "Garuru."

Garuru turned to Zoruru, noticing he was now back.

"Are Taruru and Tororo safe?" he asked.

"Yes." Zoruru answered. "I'll deal with this. I'll hold them off. You carry Pururu and get to safety on the hill with Natsumi."

"But..." Garuru didn't want to leave a single comrade on his own.

"I'll be fine. I have stealth; the scavengers won't know what hit them. I won't go completely offensive - I'll just hit them when they're heading up to you," he said to them. "When you're at the top, I'll head up, too."

Garuru nodded, realizing Zoruru's plan was for the best. He needed to get Pururu to safety, as she currently couldn't walk on her own.

"Natsumi! We're heading up to the top of the hill!" Garuru yelled. The acid would never take anyone else he loved. He would keep Pururu safe.

"All right! I'm falling back!" Natsumi yelled. He admired her strength, blindly fighting against the things that had taken her family.

He couldn't do that himself. He wasn't that strong yet.

Putting Pururu on his back in piggy-back fashion, the three of them ran toward the ledge of the hill and began to climb.

"G-Garuru..." Pururu whispered as she collapsed onto his back.

"Rest. It's good for you," Garuru told her, nodding to his companion Natsumi. She could climb much faster due to her strength and longer limbs.

When they reached the top, they spotted Tororo, but Taruru was nowhere in sight.

"Where's Taruru?" Garuru asked.

Tororo's shivering answered the question easily.

"Gone... He was eaten as he was trying to protect me." Tororo answered. Garuru didn't move. The shaking of the world finally stopped as he froze.

_No... Not someone else... I don't want to lose someone else! _He turned to peer over the ledge of the hill to see Zoruru.

Zoruru was still in danger - he wasn't safe yet.

Garuru watched in fear, hoping that another friend wouldn't be lost.

* * *

Zoruru remained true to his promise - he was able to take out any scavenger that got close to the ledge.

_I'm doing well. I can do this! _Zoruru thought to himself.

"ZORURU!" He heard Garuru's voice scream from on the top of the hill.

_Idiot. Doesn't he know that will attract the scavengers? _Zoruru thought to himself, but then he saw that Garuru was looking beyond him. Making a tight turn, he saw the acid flooding through, already wiping out some scavengers on the edge. While attacking the scavengers, he had forgotten about the quick acid approaching.

_Ah. I'm not going to make it, _Zoruru thought. He only looked up at Garuru, his last action taking off his mask to show his old friends his smile, as he let the acid in a giant wave get him and all the scavengers.

_At least I took them with me,_ he thought, as the acid hit his body, burning him in excruciating pain.

He didn't scream. There was no need; he had won. It was all over, but that was much better than fighting forever.

His duty was over.

* * *

The group watched in horror as acid swept away their friend.

"It... It moved a lot faster than I had thought..." Natsumi realized.

"The dam was far away. We thought it was moving slowly," Garuru replied. Their friend's body was gone, either eaten away by the acid or swept away in a wave. He was as gone as Taruru.

"Zoruru... Zoruru, no..." Tororo began to cry. Out of everyone, Zoruru was the one he himself had been closest to. The two had formed a quiet, unspoken companionship as strong as brothers.

Garuru looked at Natsumi, unable to speak. The acid had taken away two of their friends. It had all happened again.

He didn't know if he wanted silence to mourn his fallen friends, or comfort, to be told that he did his best.

Natsumi just squeezed his hand gently, being silent and giving him both of those.


	11. Savior

**Another Heavens chapter. As a reminder it goes; Mortals, Heaven, Hell.**

**Disclaimer: I do not own anything.**

* * *

"_Although born as a toy for two deities, we try desperately to live our own lives." -Mortals_

* * *

Momoka saw Aki sighing happily.

She hadn't seen the older woman much lately, but there was something... _off_ about her.

Already on edge from the piece of Wrath that had joined her soul, she tried to distract herself by paying attention to Aki.

Aki was in a much better mood than normal, a happier mood; more content, eager.

_She's in love... I should know, being the virtue of Love. But... with whom? There's not that many people here in the Heavenly Kingdom. It can't be Dororo, because he and Koyuki are together, so... whom?_Momoka was curious, more curious than she should have been.

Fuyuki's mother was in love, and even if it required using her virtue power of Love to find out with who, she would.

She just wanted to know. It would distract her from her own life.

So while Aki wasn't paying attention, Momoka pressed her hands to her own head, focusing on Aki and her Love; she was using her virtue on another virtue, to see the flashes of Aki's love and what was making her so happy.

What Momoka saw wasn't what she expected; it was the unlikeliest scenario in her head. But it was the truth.

Aki was dating the sin of Lust and Pride. She had betrayed the Heavenly Kingdom to be with a sin.

Momoka could only feel cold, hard anger at the betrayal.

* * *

Fuyuki heard a crashing noise from his cloud, and a scream - the scream of his mother.

Quickly, Fuyuki ran through the clouds to get to his mother and see what was attacking her, and to save her.

"Mom!" he yelled. He wasn't the only one to run to his mother's rescue. Dororo stood by her, too, trying to drag Momoka off.

"How dare you! You traitor! Why would you put everybody in jeopardy...? Why?!" The sweet shy Momoka was no longer there as she attacked Aki. Instead her hair was pointed at the edge and her face was filled with anger.

She was much darker and stronger than Fuyuki had ever remembered her being.

_This is wrath... Dororo was wrong. She is infected with it! _He realized as he gazed upon the Darker Momoka in front of him.

"Momoka! Momoka, stop!" Dororo ordered.

"Why should I? She's a traitor!" she accused.

"Dororo... I think something has infected Momoka... You were wrong about it being fine," Fuyuki told Dororo as he tried to calm Momoka by holding her close to him instead of letting her attack his mother. It worked, and Momoka calmed down, her anger fading to grief.

"Why... Why did you do that, Momoka? I'm no traitor," Aki told the girl, still confused.

"What do you believe Aki's done?" Dororo asked.

"She's betrayed the Heavens. Instead of focusing on her job she started seeing a Sin," Momoka claimed.

"What are you talking about?" Fuyuki asked, very confused. _Momoka's wrong... She has to be..._

"She's dating Lust. She's dating the sin of Lust!"

"Momoka... I think you're experiencing delusion." Dororo told her calmly. "Throwing away our battle to date a Sin would be something awful and heinous. Pride is the worst Sin I've encountered. Nobody would date him."

"He's not the worst! He's just misunderstood!" Aki gave herself away by defending Kululu.

Everybody turned to her.

Aki sighed. She would have to explain herself. "I think our battle isn't the Sins' fault. You've all got to stop looking at the world so two-dimensionally. The Sins aren't just these blind, evil mechanisms. And Pride... Yes, I might be dating him, but we've got a real connection!" she insisted. "We shouldn't stop from ineracting with certain people based on where they come from."

Dororo just shook his head, realizing what Momoka told them was true.

"Mom!" Fuyuki seemed the most irritated. "People are dying because of the Sins! Sis is still on the mortal plane, battling for her life every day because of how the world is thanks to them!" He bit back tears. "We don't know what Pride's agenda is. He might have been trying to get information out of you... Or just wanting to..." Fuyuki cleared his throat, too awkward to address how Kululu probably used his mother for sex. "Anyway, what I mean is it was wrong to meet with a Sin like that and I'm disappointed in you!" Fuyuki lectured his own Mother.

"Fuyuki... stop this." Aki was confident that she hadn't done anything wrong.

"Mom. He's our enemy. My enemy... Sis's enemy. Don't you care about us more than you care about him?" he asked.

Aki looked at her son and nodded. She could tell Fuyuki didn't like this match, due to Pride being a Sin.

_I suppose I'll just have to wait until the world is ready for us to be together,_ she thought. Aki got up off the ground and hugged her son.

"I won't meet with him anymore until you're ready. You're more important to me, after all," she reminded him.

"Until I'm ready? What does that mean?" he asked.

"Well, you're right about him being a Sin, but I feel as if he really listened to me... If something ever happens and he stops being a Sin, there might be a chance for the two of us that doesn't have any affect on the world," she explained to him.

Dororo shook his head as he listened.

"Aki... I hate to say this, but I think you were used and played for a fool. I don't think any of the Sins really care about anything." An unmistakable layer of prejudice was masked under the layers of his voice. Fuyuki wondered what had happened to cause Dororo to think that way.

Aki frowned, shaking her head.

"You also betrayed the Heavenly Kingdom for your own gain, possibly putting us all in jeopardy if he was trying to milk you for information," he told her.

Aki looked down, feeling a little bit guilty. That was partly true. She didn't know Pride's full agenda. She didn't even know his name.

"I might have to punish you. And I am sorry for that," Dororo apologized.

"Wait! Don't punish my Mom!" Fuyuki put his hands up, not knowing what kind of punishment Dororo would think up, "C-can't she... make things up with hard work and effort?"

"Of course," he said. "What do you have in mind?"

"We'll send her to Pride. Continue letting them date." Fuyuki smiled at his mother, knowing that a part of her was happier than it had been in a long time thanks to Pride. He was sickened of the idea of his mother dating and probably sleeping with the Sin, but it might make her happy, too. "But we don't _just_ let her date him," Fuyuki continued. "She'll be trying to get information from him, as well. He won't think she's playing him for a fool for information, due to being egotistical and not even thinking she would do that. And it will keep us one step ahead of the underworld."

"That...Could work. Would you be willing?" Dororo asked Aki.

"Yes," she replied. "It was my son's idea so I'll do it."

"You'll be our double agent," said Fuyuki. Aki nodded. She wanted to make it up to her son, but she also wanted to prove to everyone that Pride wasn't using her.

She would be the Virtue that she was.

* * *

After Dororo finally let Aki go, he took a stroll, trying to clear his head from one of his own members of the Kingdom being tricked.

"Lady Koyuki." He saw Koyuki sitting by the edge of a cloud and looking down at the mortals below. "What are you watching?"

"A brave act," she said. "He wasn't born as a Virtue, but still... he's just as brave as any virtue I know." Koyuki pointed to what was below them, a fight where one gray keronian stood alone, battling scavengers so that his friends could be safe.

Dororo watched as acid hit his body and swept him away.

"His life is now gone, but I wish we could have helped," she said to him.

"He's not dead yet." Dororo listened to the gray Keronian's heart rate and life force. "And although I can't make him into a virtue, there is something I can do. I'm not letting Hell take another mortal soul. He'll live. I'll make sure of it." Dororo smiled. "Good-bye, Lady Koyuki. I must take a trip to the mortal plane."

Smiling and bowing, he disappeared, to do as much good as he could.

* * *

Zoruru lay on the ground, the acid having swept him away from his friends. It had drained, and Zoruru now lay on the hard ground, dying slowly and excruciatingly painfully.

He had managed to try to protect himself from the acid, but only about on the right side of his body. The rest of his body was mangled beyond repair, his mouth just being a gaping flesh hole with no tongue, his left eye completely burned, his left and arm and leg having fallen off a long while ago back in the acid.

"Do not fear, I'm here." A Keronian hallucination with a soothing voice stood by his side.

_What... is that? _Zoruru couldn't talk, but his mind could still think.

"I am the Heavenly King, Dororo, and I am here to reward you for your brilliant display of virtue," he said with a smile.

_Reward me...? But... I'm dead... I'm dying... _Zoruru thought to himself.

"I'm going to rebuild you with my power. Make you live again." With a snap of his fingers, Dororo let some metal hover above them. "I'll fix you." His voice was soothing, but to Zoruru it sounded as if he was some insane person trying to turn him into a monster.

Dororo shaped Zoruru's new half-a-body in front of him, as Zoruru could only watch with his one good eye. Dororo felt as if he was doing right, but all Zoruru could think about was his own internal screams.

The new body looked hideous, like a metal monster. Zoruru had faced his fate, ready to die and be freed of the battle he was trapped between. Now the Heavenly King was going to trap him not only in a new monstrous body, but back in a terrible life and existence.

Zoruru tried to tell Dororo _no_, tried to scream, but all he made were garbled, non-distinguishable vocal noises.

_No! I'd rather die than be trapped in that horrible metal body... I don't want to be a monster! I just want to be me! Not a monster! _Zoruru's mind wailed as he realized he'd lose himself forever if that body was put on him.

It was too late. Dororo fused the two together, turning Zoruru's body half-metal, into a more cybornetic function.

"I've saved you. You're welcome." Dororo felt that he did good as he left Zoruru crying at what he had become.

Flexing his new fingers, all Zoruru felt was anger.

_I'm no longer the living being I was. I'm made of inorganic material. I'm a monster. And it's all the King of the Heavens's fault. For as long as I, this new monstrosity of me lives, I shall take Dororo down._

_No matter what, _Zoruru vowed to himself.

Looking to the ground instead of straight ahead to find his friends, Zoruru could no longer smile for his plans. Not like he had a mouth anymore, anyway.

Dororo hummed as he went back to the Heavenly Kingdom, feeling he did right.


	12. New Beginnings

**Anyway, here's another chapter that I do not own anything of.**

**(I wrote a lot of chapters a week or two ago that took a while to edit. That's why you're getting them all in one go.**

* * *

"_Help as many as you can and eventually your feelings will reach them, and they'll help others, too." -The Heavenly King_

* * *

Tamama shivered in the corner of the cavern that he had hid in. Keroro hid with him. There was no shelter though from the Lord's anger.

Just shaking. Shaking of the ground, walls - everything. Destruction and terror was in each of the Sins' hearts as the Lord of Hell unleashed her anger upon the world.

"H-have... Have you always been able to do that?" Keroro was the one to speak up first, as the shaking finally stopped and the Lord of Hell evaporated the spear she held previously in her hands to nothing. Instead of grief being expressed from Kululu's betrayal and canoodling with a virtue, calm anger remained in her eyes. Any remnants of the angry, terrifying outburst were now vanquished.

"It's not important." The Lord of Hell didn't answer completely. She stood up with a swish of her silver hair and letting her blue cape fly behind her she turned around. "Tell me when Pride returns. That's an order." With that, she left to her room.

"Well... that was... terrifying..." Giroro had clung to the ground for dear life while the planet had shook. If it had affected their realm so greatly, who knew what had become of the mortal plane.

Keroro nodded in agreement. "What else... What other power do you think she's hiding that she can use to punish us?"

Giroro thought for a moment, not quite knowing. It was just like Keroro to think of himself the most and fear for his own life, but he made a decent point.

_How can I fight against the Heavens completely when my own team is still a mystery to me, and my leader can possibly harm me? _Giroro thought to himself. He knew it was a thought that he shouldn't have had, that he was supposed to be a loyal Sin and soldier forever, but he couldn't help wondering about the bigger picture and what the agenda was of his leader, the Lord of the Underworld.

_I'm the newest Sin, I'll probably be told more when I have more experience, _Giroro hoped. He wasn't too sure, though.

His duty was to fight, not to wonder about secrets. His duty, his calling, was anger and rage. Wrath.

He was Wrath and that was all he would ever be. He shouldn't need more. He should be on the Lord's side for feeling such wrath towards a fellow Sin.

But this weird, empty feeling had entered his heart after the last battle he had with the Heavens. He didn't know what it was, but it felt inconvenient and weird.

Like he was missing something crucial.

* * *

Kululu returned soon enough, entering the caverns in the dark underworld illuminated with candlelight of all colors. He smiled, in a rather good mood.

"Ku, ku, ku, what was with that quake? Something the Heavens set up? Or us? Either way, it was pretty big. I monitored it with an invention and it was pretty impressive," Kululu announced as he walked in.

Keroro tried to make desperate signs at Kululu to leave - silent ones so that nobody would hear.

"Hm?" Kululu looked a bit confused.

"He's back." Giroro gave a small grin ready to watch the events unfold. As if coming from out of nowhere, the Lord of the Underworld appeared, hovering above the ground and landing lightly, her cape spreading out like dark angel wings.

"Kululu. You have betrayed the Underworld." Her voice was cold and uncompassionate.

"W-what are you talking about?" he said. His voice wavering ever-so-slightly due to the cold heartless expression of the Lord towering above him.

"You have been spotted 'seeing' a Virtue. You're supposed to be a loyal Sin to this kingdom, but you have instead strayed to the Heavenly Kingdom, possibly even striking up a romantic relationship with a Virtue," the Lord of the Underworld said.

Kululu gulped and glanced over to Tamama, who he knew had betrayed his secret. He had expected the Lord of the Underworld to be angry with him, in an overly terrifying way if she found out, or even the worse alternative of her crying and feeling honestly betrayed. But it was the cold, unfeeling justice that was the most unsettling to him. He wasn't sure what was going to happen to him.

_Am I going to... die? Well, die again? Is she going to destroy me as a Sin and make me disappear? Is she... going to execute me? _Kululu wondered. He didn't put it past her.

"If you throw away your relationship with that other woman, there will be no long-term negative consequences for you. I will not have to strip you of your powers and sins. Swear your loyalty to the Underworld and to me, the Lord of It All, and I will not be forced to exact judgment on you." The Lord of the Underworld spoke curtly, like a Judge, as if Kululu was on trial for an awful murder and only she had the gavel to hear his plea and sentence him.

_Well, Aki, it was a fun fantasy to try to get away from the Lord of Hell, but unrealistic. Good-bye, _Kululu thought to himself. The choice was clear that he had to make. There really was no choice, actually. It was his life or nothing.

He nodded to the Lord, knowing he had lost. "I swear my loyalty to the Underworld. Ku, ku, ku. After all, it's so fun being a sin. Why would I ever want to get rid of it?" he laughed.

"You will be quarantined here for a week, unable to leave the Underworld." The Lord of Hell ordered flicking her fingers, causing all the barred gates to lock all the doorways on her domain for only Kululu to be seen.

"Ku ku ku - but that's all, right?" he asked, slightly worried. He hadn't been punished in a professional fashion before by the Lord, instead having mild scoldings, angry screaming sessions, and other painful punishments, but nowhere near this level of professionalism. He had instead stood by and watched his fellow Sins, Tamama and Keroro, get the blunt of actual punishments.

The Lord of Hell didn't respond, and instead bent down to him, with a few mortal objects in her hands.

Kululu picked up tape as one of them.

_Ku ku ku. What's she planning to do, cover me in duct tape? _he wondered.

"You didn't swear your loyalty to me, yet." The Lord of Hell gave a cold smile - looking almost innocent, but with sadistic intentions masked underneath.

Kululu could tell by the evil spark in her eyes.

"Wh-what?" Kululu wondered as rope covered his entire body, slithering around him like snakes and tying him to a post.

"I haven't done this in a long time, you know~!" The Lord hummed as she removed his glasses, making sure he couldn't see, but taping his eyeballs open anyway.

_Is this getting kinky or is she going to torture me until I swear loyalty to her? _he thought. _I... I should probably just wait and let her torture me for a bit. After all, it will let any anger out and she won't have any more of it after my almost-infidelity. It would probably be for the best... and I kind of deserve it a little._

Kululu knew there was no chance of him feeling guilty if he was properly punished for his actions instead of upfront forgiven, which she was bound to do if he pledged loyalty upfront. _That, and I kind of want to see what she's planning. Ku, ku, ku! _Kululu admitted to himself.

The other Sins watched what the Lord of Hell did to Kululu, because Kululu couldn't.

She put a candlestick in front of him, just close enough that he could barely make out the bright - albeit blurry - light.

"Pledge your loyalty, and your punishment will just move onto a week of imprisonment," the Lord of Hell bargained as she started peeling an orange.

"Why? Why do you need it so much? Why do you need my loyalty?" Kululu asked. The Lord of Hell didn't answer.

He already knew, he just wanted to goad her into saying it. That he was being used as an example and that she had to be a good leader for the Underworld and nothing in her domain could stray from its rightful place.

He would have ruled the same way, so there was no reason to be angry at her.

The Lord squirted the first drop of the orange through the candle, letting it light on fire and hit Kululu's eye.

"AHHH!" He hadn't honestly expected that much pain from such a little tiny thing. She squirted another drop into the other eye. The pain was excruciating. It took a lot for even Kululu to mask the level of agony that his eyeballs were in.

"F-fine! I'll pledge my loyalty to you, the Lord of the Underworld. I am loyal to this war and cause!" Kululu pledged through his tears. The tape was torn off of him and he was granted his glasses again.

"That wasn't too hard, was it?" The Lord of Hell asked, taking off Kululu's ropes and letting him go.

Kululu nodded, and glared at Giroro, Tamama and Keroro who were giggling as they looked at him as he tried to wipe away the tears from his throbbing eye sockets.

Kululu was in utter pain, and felt horrible from the humiliation, but it was still way better than suffering from a horrible grudge his entire existence, in having the Lord of the Underworld, one of the most powerful beings besides himself, as his biggest enemy.

The Lord of Hell still looked at Kululu in a cold way, as if she were personally hurt by the betrayal but unable to say it.

_On second thought... put me back in the orange torture. I'd much rather have that than this. _Kululu was unable to look at the person he had betrayed.

The Lord of Hell stood up from her place at the ground and turned away as if she were to leave Kululu to his solitude.

That was when the barren entrance to her throne room banged. It was as if the giant doors at the end of them, the portal to the mortal plane, were being knocked from the other end.

"B-but... that's impossible... A mortal can't get down here..." Giroro whispered.

"If they have a strong enough conviction and hate, they can. But it doesn't happen much," the Lord quickly explained.

"It's like we're evil witches granting wishes!" Tamama piped up with a bad explanation.

"We're supernatural Sins who rule this world. Ku ku ku. 'Witches' is a bit of a downgrade," said Kululu.

"Sloth, would you get that?" The Lord of the Underworld yawned, not bothering to get the door herself.

"It's always me." Keroro sighed, quite unhappy. He trudged off to the door and opened it.

A gray, metallic Keronian with one eye stood outside. His body was half-metal and the rest of him was a dull gray color. His mouth, or what his mouth had once been, was covered in bandages. He entered the underworld, his body glowing as it made a contract with the evil lands to grant him access.

"I hate you. I always have. The Underworld is evil." The Keronian told them.

"Oh? So you've found us to exact revenge?" The Lord of Hell finally approached the gray Keronian, looking rather bored.

"No," the gray Keronian admitted. "I hate you all, but that hate is a drop of rain compared to the hate I feel towards the Heavenly King," he told them. "He... He ruined me. He turned me into this monster. Made me something half alive and half not. I'm not who I was, I'm just a monster that he created."

"So you've found us to tell us your pitiful story?" Kululu crossed his arms. "Ku, ku, ku. Boring. I'm not amused."

"No! What I'm saying is I hate you. But our goals are the same. I want to take down the Heavenly King with this... monstrous second chance at life I've been imprisoned with. I offer myself as a loyal spy on the mortal planes to take out anyone that the Heavenly Kingdom believes can help them. Anyone they like or find important." Bowing, Zoruru spoke, "All I wish is Dororo's demise and destruction."

"Well, this is unusual... Ku, ku, ku. A mortal betraying his own kind for revenge." Kululu seemed interested.

"I accept your offer." The Lord of the Underworld sat down in her throne of bones. Thinking for a moment of what would best help the Underworld in their war, she told Zoruru what his task would be. "There is someone on the mortal plane who is both a daughter of a Virtue, and the sister of one. Her death will hurt the Heavens greatly," the Lord told him.

"Ku, ku, ku, there's someone like that on the mortal plane? Someone still alive and related to the virtues?" Kululu asked, intrigued. Their side's power would increase greatly if they killed that person and mentally harmed several Virtues.

"Her name is Natsumi Hinata. Find her - " The Lord of the Underworld was cut off by Zoruru's raspy metallic voice.

"I know her. Don't worry," he said.

" - and kill her. Take your time with it, though. Gather information, gain her trust," the Lord ordered. "That is the job I give to you."

"Thank you." Zoruru bowed again, "I won't disappoint you. I'll hurt the Heavens." And with that he turned away to walk out the door and back to the mortal plane after making a contract with the Devil herself.

Kululu turned away as well, to leave to work on some inventions on his own, now that the new, interesting thing had vanished.

"Kululu." The Lord of the Underworld stopped him.

"Hm?" He turned around for a brief moment to see what she wanted.

"Aki Hinata would have never made a war for you. She'd never take down the Heavens just for you. Think about that the next time you're trying to cheat on me," was all she said to indicate she hadn't completely forgiven him and was still holding a small grudge. With a flick of her wrist, she closed the doors to her throne room, and the doors while closing pushed Kululu out, signaling she wanted to be alone.

Kululu wondered blankly to himself one thing, and one thing alone from her words. _How did she know Aki by name? And who she was?_

Kululu didn't know.

* * *

_There's so much about this place's history that I don't know, _Giroro realized, feeling a bit left out and out of the loop since he didn't know mortals could enter the Underworld. _It's not my place as a loyal sin to wonder about this place's secrets. I'm the only one the Lord hasn't ever punished, and I hope to keep that track record clean. _Giroro smiled to himself. _The answers will come to me as I gain more experience and as more time passes. _What Giroro didn't seem to understand and realize was that not even Kululu, the very first Sin, had the answers about the Underworld and the Lord herself.

It wasn't about time at all; no secrets were going to be given to Giroro.

_Natsumi Hinata, huh... _Giroro thought back to the name. There was one thing he could learn about and not be kept in the dark about, and it was her.

The mortal that Heaven and Hell seemed to both be indirectly attached to and fighting over.

_Maybe I'll pay her a visit. _Giroro grinned. There was no reason to be kept in the dark about her.

And it would be fun to wage war on the mortals and to experience battle again.

Wrath wouldn't wait any longer. He would have a battle, feel wrath of mortals and himself, and see this Natsumi girl.

He would have all of it.


	13. Jealousy

**Still do not own anything.**

**Tell me what you think of this chapter. And please review!**

* * *

"_Romance and love are nonexistent concepts. They only seem to cause problems for others of both parties." -The Lord of Hell_

* * *

"Who are you?" The light blue tadpole was crying, but looked through his tears at Garuru.

"I'm someone who can help. What are you doing all alone?" Garuru asked the orphaned and abandoned Keronian.

"I don't know... Looking for my friends, I guess. I was going to meet them, but there was a sandstorm and I lost my way..." Taruru told the older Keronian.

"Are you alone? Do you have any family or anyone besides your friends?" Garuru asked. The tadpole shook his head.

"You'll have me then. And my group. We'll help you find your friends someday. There's no reason that you have to be alone. I could use someone like you." Garuru offered his hand to Taruru.

"You're offering me... a family?" Taruru was confused.

"Yes. Because I don't have one either. Nobody in my group has one." Garuru helped the him onto his feet.

He was part of their group now.

* * *

Garuru tried to close his eyes, willing the images of his first meeting with Taruru out of his memory. Taruru, who was now deceased because Garuru hadn't been a strong enough leader.

Tororo's loud wails echoed across the air.

Garuru clamped his hand over Tororo's mouth.

"You've got to be quieter," He told Tororo. He, of course, didn't shed any tears. He wanted to, but he needed to be stronger than that.

Zoruru and Taruru were now dead. He needed to move on. He didn't have the luxury of time to mourn, and he needed to help his group realize that too.

_I'm sorry, Taruru... We never did find your friends, _Garuru thought. He didn't have the time to mourn, but the guilt would join his heart along with all of the others who he had seen die. It would be with him forever.

Setting down Pururu onto the ground, Garuru tried to calm Tororo down.

"Tororo... I'm sorry... I know what it's like to lose someone... And so recently, too... My own brother died a only a while ago, I know it hurts..." Natsumi tried to help shush Tororo's grief.

Pururu suddenly awoke from her unconsciousness. She rubbed her leg for a moment before speaking. "Wh-what happened?" she asked.

"Zoruru and Taruru died..." Natsumi told her. "I - I'm sorry..."

Pururu's eyes widened and tears streamed down her face. "No... not Zoruru and Taruru... But... Zoruru was so strong... He couldn't have died... No..."

"The acid got him," said Garuru. He didn't have the luxury of time to mourn, but there was no need to impose his strict rules on Pururu.

Pururu helped herself to Tororo's side and held him as she, too, cried with him over their lost friends.

Natsumi watched them for a few minutes say a few things they already missed about Taruru and Zoruru, until she stood up tired of the grief and ready to move on.

"We don't have time for this. We need to honor their sacrifice. We need to move on and do exactly what they wanted... Zoruru wanted us to be safe, and Taruru wanted to protect Tororo. We need to continue with our journey and let them live with us in spirit." Natsumi hadn't known Taruru and Zoruru too long, but she knew they wouldn't have wanted them to just sit around crying all day.

Garuru nodded, still looking at Natsumi.

"She's exactly right. We need to find our new home... After that, we'll make a funeral for them. I promise." He paused to think a moment. "The scavengers have drowned in acid, so we're free to continue our journey and search."

Pururu wiped the tears off her face. She wanted the time to mourn her friends, but at the same time she knew, for herself, that she needed to keep being strong, and that her tears had brought Garuru and Natsumi closer again.

"L-let's... Get going then..." Pururu tried to give a weak smile. Tororo didn't. He pouted and didn't even pretend to get over anything, but he did nod, signaling that he was ready to go.

Garuru looked to the horizon. It was time for them to go deeper into the Land of Envy.

* * *

The four traveled, walking deeper into the Land of Envy. The sorrow of the losses of their friends giving them enough adrenaline to walk for hours before dropping.

Surprisingly it was Tororo, the laziest of the group, who pushed them to keep moving when they began collapsing.

"We need to keep going. Zoruru would have wanted it," Tororo told them, no longer laughing or having that impish childish, nature to him. "Right, Garuru?"

_He's breaking... He's looking to me to guidance. I'm the one who has cried least about our friends and he's looking at me as a positive role model. Sometimes I force us to walk until we're exhausted, but he wants us to go past the point of exhaustion... _Garuru realized. Tororo was trying to cope by being more like Garuru. "We should keep moving." Garuru made a bad judgment call, hoping that Tororo would exhaust himself so much that he wouldn't try to think like Garuru. _There's enough of me already._

The group continued going at Garuru's orders.

They moved blindly, their eyes set on a target path that didn't exist.

They walked until all of them had collapsed on the ground somewhere close together, having walked for days until they made it to the very middle of Envy's lands.

They all collapsed near each other, the ground not cratered but just black, not for any particular reason but just colored that way.

And the four of them slept.

* * *

"Are you all right?" Someone with a high, childish voice poked at Natsumi. She opened her eyes to see two young Keronians in front of her, both female in appearance. One was light green and the other was a light yellow with a minus insignia.

"Y-yeah..." Natsumi croaked out. Was she dead? Was this where dead people went? That would explain why she was surrounded by two young children.

"Don't worry! We dragged you into our makeshift shelter... Well, you were so big you broke it, but you were safe for a little bit," the yellow Keronian explained. "We shared some supplies with your friends. Now they've had some water and food!"

"But we've got nothing now!" the green Keronian hummed.

Natsumi sat up, looking around and brushing off some broken wood from her body.

"It's all right... You're not dead," Garuru said from behind her. Natsumi turned her head to the purple Keronian.

"What happened?" she asked.

"We collapsed...And because of that..." Garuru frowned for a moment, wondering how to phrase what happened.

"Ohh! Ohh! I'm going to tell the story!" The green keronian raised her hand. "I found you laying around and I saw Mr. Garuru and I realized how handsome he was and just like a fairy tale I dragged him inside our home and helped him and now he's going to be my husband because we're in love. Karara and Garuru in love forever!" Karara addressed herself by name, talking about Garuru's and her supposed love.

Natsumi snickered a bit at the absurdity. That was, until she realized Garuru wasn't correcting Karara, nor pushing off her strangely hugs and kisses.

"They're harmless... Don't worry." Pururu's voice greeted Natsumi's ears and joined the group. She too, seemed to glare at Karara a little bit as well. "...Karara and Chiroro are Taruru's old friends, and Garuru has offered them a place in our group."

Natsumi didn't know why she wasn't relieved that two youths were now in more responsible hands. All she felt was confusion and petty jealousy at wondering why Garuru was so okay with Karara's actions.

_I promised you, Taruru, that we'd find your friends. There's a place for them with us now, _Garuru thought to himself, not being able to push Karara off due to still feeling guilty about Taruru's death. To him, letting Karara be affectionate to him and play out some childish fantasy was the only way to let Taruru's spirit be happy. She hadn't batted an eyelash when he had told her Taruru died though.

Pururu had whispered to him that perhaps it was because she just didn't understand. Garuru hoped it was because of that.

"I'm going to go check on that Tororo guy again. He still hasn't woken up," Chiroro offered, turning around to get to Tororo and shake him awake again.

"So when Tororo wakes up... we'll begin our search again, correct?" Pururu asked Garuru. He shook his head.

"I shouldn't have let him push us so hard. We need to rest some more. Spend the night, maybe. It'll be hard in this wooden shelter since it's mostly broken, but I think while Tororo is healing, we can fix it."

They all nodded and went straight to work hammering a one-night shelter large enough for them to all stay.

* * *

"You're awake." Chiroro noticed that Tororo was just pretending to be asleep.

"Wish I wasn't though," Tororo answered. "Who are you?"

"Chiroro... Karara and I - she's my friend - we found and saved you."

"Shouldn't have." Tororo would have pouted, but instead he just seemed cold and distance. "We would have been fine. I would have been fine on my own. I don't need any protecting. Not anymore."

"Are you sad? What happened?" Chiroro asked, too naive and curious for her own good.

"You wouldn't understand. It's too adult for you!" Tororo told her.

"Hey! I'm as old as you!" Chiroro stuck out her tongue. Tororo turned away from her. Chiroro stopped sticking out her tongue for a moment, seeing that it wasn't working in cheering the stranger up.

Using her unnatural amount of hyper energy, Chiroro stepped over Tororo to his other side to face him. Tororo didn't change expressions until she bopped him on the nose with her nose.

"AUGH! Why are you doing that?" Tororo asked, as he was given an onslaught of eskimo kisses.

"It cheers people up, doesn't it?" Chiroro asked.

"No! You can't just cheer people up from bumping noses with them," he told her stubbornly.

"Oh... Well, then maybe... I can cheer you up some other way!" Chiroro began to make funny faces, each one weirder than the next until Tororo finally couldn't take it anymore and was laughing.

"Pu, Pu, Pu! Those are the weirdest faces ever!" After a few moments of laughter he went back to his sorrow, no expression on his face. "I shouldn't have laughed... I... I should be still in sorrow, for Taruru and Zoruru..."

"I don't think Taruru would have wanted you to be in sorrow. He was a funny sort of guy. And our old friend," Chiroro tried to comfort, realizing he was just mourning Taruru too.

"What about Zoruru? He was my best friend... But now he's dead..." He confided in Chiroro of what had hurt him so badly.

"I don't know any Zorurus so I can't completely answer, but... I don't think he would have wanted you to stop laughing. I mean, your laugh is fun! And he wouldn't want you to mope around all day, m'kay?" she said, trying to cheer up the other tadpole and clutching his hand.

Tororo nodded, listening to her advice.

_Chiroro... She's nice. _Tororo gave a single smile, admitting to himself that her cheering up was helping a little.

"My name's Tororo... Nice to meet you," he introduced.

"Nice to meet you, too." She smiled at him.

* * *

The group spent the night in their tiny little shelter.

"Can I sleep with you, Garuru?" Karara asked, batting her eyes at him.

"It is... acceptable, I suppose," he responded.

Pururu and Natsumi watched in shock as Garuru allowed Karara to cuddle him and just put up with it.

Both of them didn't realize that they gazed at Karara with newfound jealousy.

They didn't speak to each other about Garuru, but they both had him in their thoughts that night as a different girl cuddled him.

* * *

The next day the new group of six with very little provisions continued their journey.

"Karara, Chiroro... it'll be nice to have you in our group, but you have to follow our rules," Garuru said to the two kids. "Right now we're searching for a permanent home, a safe one. That is our one goal besides protecting each other, all right?"

"All right!" said Chiroro.

"I won't need to protect anyone. All I need is my husband Garuru to protect me." Karara grinned and clung to Garuru's arm.

Natsumi almost expected Garuru to scold the young girl... but no scolding came for Karara. Garuru just kept moving.

_Does he... like Karara or something? _Natsumi thought to herself. She glanced at Pururu, wondering if she should ask the other girl for advice.

Pururu didn't look at Natsumi, and only gave small glances to Garuru and Karara.

The group walked on, ignoring Pururu's and Natsumi's unease and jealousy.

* * *

Surprisingly, Pururu and Natsumi weren't the only ones who were jealous.

_Chiroro used to talk to me all the time about my love life and help me with everything... Now, she's just paying attention to that orange tadpole._ Her thoughts were slightly off, and she knew it.

Chiroro wasn't paying attention to Tororo; it was reversed. Tororo was paying attention to Chiroro.

For some reason he was oddly close, and protective of her, almost in a lonely-but-rather-dorky-crush sort of way.

He wasn't dragged down by all the girls fighting for Garuru's heart. He just paid attention to Chiroro and watched her, making sure she didn't trip as they walked.

Karara had always paid attention to boys. But they had never paid attention to her. And she was jealous.

* * *

Each of the girl's thoughts were not their own. Instead they floated to something else - the Devourers, the Land of Envy's own monsters.

Feeding on jealousy and envy, the Devourers looked up, lured by the sweet envious thoughts of the three girls.

_I wish someone would look at me the way that boy looks at Chiroro. _One envious thought was enough to get one Devourer running to the group.

_I can't believe that green Keronian keeps clinging to Garuru. He's better than that; why isn't he pushing her off? We're supposed to have that sort of relationship... _Natsumi's strong envious thoughts were enough to send two Devourers through the ground and to the group.

_That used to be me that Garuru paid attention to. But now Karara and Natsumi have taken my role. _Pururu's jealous thoughts were enough to send a hoard.

And so the black, vile creatures seeped through the ground itself to attack the beings who had lured them.

* * *

Tororo paused while walking. "Garuru," he finally called out to their leader, "I think... something might be coming..."

Just as he said the words, black hands shot out of the ground, black like shadows. At the edge of every finger of the black hands were mouths filled with sharp teeth.

"What... What's going on?" Garuru said, putting an arm in front of Pururu instead of Karara.

The black shadows helped themselves out of the ground and onto the land. Each had a single eye in the center of their lanky bodies.

"I-I've heard about these... from Fuyuki..." Natsumi didn't know if she could even punch those creatures who were staring at all of them. "I think they're called Devourers... They're the creatures in the Land of Envy that terrorize their citizens."

"Protect me, husband-to-be!" Karara tried to leap to Garuru for protection. The eyes of all the devourers focused onto her.

Garuru knew they were about to attack. Instead of protecting Karara, he acted on instinct.

"Pururu, get back!" He put himself in front of Pururu to protect her, the person he had been with the longest.

The Devourers stretched out their arms to Karara and each finger plunged into her like a sword. The teeth gnawed on her from the inside, devouring her soul itself. Karara's eyes turned dark and blank and the small Keronian fell over, quickly decomposing into the Devourers' bodies.

"KARARA!" Chiroro screamed. "No!"

"I-I'm... sorry..." Garuru said the last word in a whisper, for only himself to hear. He had failed to protect Taruru's friend because his priority was still to protect his brother's friend instead.

"Oh god..." Natsumi tried not to vomit at the disgusting and horrible death in front of her. There had been no defense for Karara's body.

She knew now for sure that there would be no way she could use her fists or her strength to protect herself. The Devourers would just get to her insides and destroy her.

She looked around frantically to see who the hoard was going for; it seemed that they had chosen Pururu, and Garuru was desperately shooting at them.

"We've got to move!" Tororo told Chiroro. "Remember, the dead want us to live." He tried to pull the crying girl to safety, but nothing worked.

Natsumi couldn't help but feel a bit of jealous that everybody else was helping each other, but she was left on her own.

_I need help too sometimes... s_he thought to herself.

As more gunfire echoed in her ears, her eyes scanned everywhere as she tried to search for help. She finally found it in a smiling boy standing above the group on a bunch of rocks.

It was the white-haired boy who had aided them before. "Words are mightier than the sword," he spoke. He then turned away and left.

_Thanks for being useless... _Natsumi thought - but then she thought again how the mysterious white-haired boy had aided her before. _Wait... Words... I think Fuyuki said something about that... That words harmed the Devourers the most... That they were attracted to jealousy or something... That means that they'll leave if we aren't jealous! Forgiveness and love will repel them!_

"Guys! Forgive everything!" Natsumi shouted. "They're attracted to our jealousy! That's why they're here. They're just mindless! Forgiveness and love will get rid of them. Just get over the jealousy!"

"Great thinking, Natsumi!" Garuru congratulated. "I hope your plan works."

This didn't really seem to help Pururu's jealousy.

The Devourers darted for Pururu, but she managed to dodge.

"I'll start," said Natsumi. "I... I was really jealous of Karara... She didn't deserve death, though! My thoughts were petty, wanting the courage to cuddle up to Garuru, too. I've always wanted a boyfriend, and... I guess that really got to me... I'm sorry, Karara..." Natsumi was blushing a lot as she spoke. Garuru only smiled at her, having a momentary gap in protecting Pururu.

"AUGH!" Pururu was lifted up by one of the Devourers; only one of them had melted from Natsumi's confession. Pururu's jealousy was still too strong.

"Pururu!" Natsumi reached out to Pururu in genuine concern for the female Keronian.

"Natsumi!" Pururu called out too in desperation. She didn't want to confess to her petty jealousy, and she still felt jealous of how Garuru was looking at Natsumi, even now. Although her life was on the line and her soul was about to be sucked out of her, she didn't feel jealousy.

Instead she felt forgiveness as Natsumi tried to push past the Devourers to save her friend.

"I'm sorry, Natsumi..." Tears fell down Pururu's cheek for the girl who she had wanted to be best of friends with on the first day but had let a petty grudge from developing a further relationship with her. "I shouldn't have been jealous. You are a wonderful young woman... and my friend..."

The Devourer holding Pururu evaporated into light at Pururu's confession. Pururu fell into Natsumi's arms and Natsumi hugged her.

"I'm so glad you aren't dead," said Natsumi.

Pururu smiled. "Thank you for coming to my rescue."

There were still more Devourers, though. The two girls turned to them. They knew how to combat them now: with love.

"Let's do this," Garuru led. They all got ready to scream at the Devourers forgiveness and love when one of them reached forward to the only two team members that weren't paying attention: Tororo and Chiroro.

"I know she was your best friend, I lost my best friend too, but we have to move!" Tororo tried to tell her, his back turned as a Devourer reached for him.

"Tororo!" Natsumi couldn't make it fast enough.

A metal hand sliced the Devourer in two before she could make it. Standing calmly in front of Tororo as his protector, a half-metallic version of Zoruru stood. "Forgiveness and love defeats them, huh?" the Zoruru look-alike asked. Taking out his metal arm and moving quickly, he sliced them all down to size. "That's crap. I'd rather just slice."

The Devourers were all killed by the one-man-soldier.

"Wh-what... Who?" Natsumi stuttered as she looked puzzlingly at the almost familiar face.

"I know it's hard to recognize me, but... I'm back. It's me, Zoruru," he announced

Pururu wiped away tears. "Zoruru... How? Oh, never mind how, I'm just so happy you're back!"

Tororo glomped Zoruru happily. "I hoped you had survived somehow, but it just seemed impossible... I'm glad it wasn't."

Garuru said nothing, but everybody could tell his eyes were sparkling in happiness and he was smiling along with the rest of them.

They rejoiced on the miracle that they had been granted.


	14. Old Stories

"_I'm sorry I couldn't protect you... my darling younger brother" -Garuru_

* * *

Dororo watched over his creation as Zoruru reappeared to his friends and sliced down envy's creatures.

Pride - well, the good kind - filled Dororo's eyes as he watched Zoruru protect his friends.

_I did the right thing. I knew it! _Zoruru now had the powers of Heaven on his side.

_He's the one who will turn the tide in this battle. He'll help so many. _Dororo thought with his usual wishful thinking. He honestly believed his thoughts. He had no idea how wrong they were.

* * *

Aki waited at the place she usually met with Kululu at. He was already two hours late.

"He usually shows up by now..." She wondered where he was. Had something happened, and his land had found out about their relationship, too?

Or had he... stood her up? Aki wanted to believe he was being prevented from seeing her, but deep in her heart she knew she had been stood up.

_This is what Dororo warned me about. That he was no good, _Aki realized, slightly disappointed. She knew he wouldn't show up. Turning around she left the sight, unable to repent.

* * *

Fuyuki didn't know what to do for Momoka, the Virtue who had helped him the most in his adjustments.

The girl lay on the ground on a bed curled up, her face covered in tears of fear at what she was becoming, some sort of evil that wasn't a Virtue but had a sin inside of her.

"I don't want to be Wrath. I don't want to be evil!" Momoka chanted to herself, as if her words held willpower. She didn't even seem to notice Fuyuki at her side, desperately trying to help her and staying by her side throughout the entire night.

"M-Momoka..." Fuyuki tried to grab the girl's hand and give her a squeeze to show her that he would help her, but Momoka was too trapped in her own realm of fear.

He needed to distract her.

"Momoka. Tell me about your life before being a Virtue. Were you like me, once a mortal? Or were you born a Virtue?" He wanted to remind her of who she was.

It seemed to work and her eyes focused on Fuyuki by her side.

"Fuyuki! When did you get here?" She sat up and brushed herself off, pretending that nothing had happened and she wasn't breaking.

"I'm here, that's all that matters." Fuyuki finally reached for her hand to give it a comforting squeeze. Momoka smiled and blushed.

She knew what Fuyuki was doing. Trying to distract her. And she accepted his distraction.

"I was a mortal, just like you... But my life as a mortal was much different." Sitting down and letting her legs dangle off her bed, she got comfortable enough to tell Fuyuki her tale. "I lived with flesh and blood thousands - or perhaps even millions - of years ago, when the world wasn't inhabited by sin yet. When the world had towns and kingdoms. And I ruled over my city, Peach, as a Nishizawa, my line of royalty."

Fuyuki was very intrigued. "You lived back when the world wasn't in ruin?"

"Yes. And I ruled over the most beautiful kingdom, rich in greenery, food, water, architecture, and money." Momoka vividly recalled the memories that had she had once loved when she had been mortal.

The memories that had soon turned to evil.

She sat down, an almost pained expression on her face as she began the tale, wistful and nostalgic, but also quite sad.

"...My most loyal subject's name was Paul... a kind, older man almost the age of my father...

" 'Princess Momoka!' my most loyal servant would call to me everyday, as the people whom I overlooked in my city would smile above to my balcony. 'I am ready to follow your wishes for today. Do you want a parade in your honor? What is your wish?' Paul would ask with a bow.

" 'Only some tea. That's all I want for the day. I'd much rather watch over my subjects' happiness than throw a big parade,' I would always answer while letting Paul carry out my wishes. It was the same every day, simple but happy.

"That was, until the world changed. I thought it was only my world that was changing at the time. My parents had passed away, leaving the town's politics and well-being to me, the young princess. I didn't know until later, when Dororo told me about the threat we Virtues were facing that the day my parents died... that it was also the day Greed was born, becoming a Sin and changing the world, as well as peoples' hearts.

"That was when my townspeople who used to be filled with simple delights became the first converts of Greed, the Sin tainting their heart like a plague of locusts. They no longer were happy with their simple lives, nor anything for that matter - instead fighting, robbing and taking whatever they wanted, begging me for money they didn't even need.

"And I suppose I was charitable, hence my Virtue, so I do not regret giving them money for pointless objects. All I regret is the way they used my money.

" 'Princess Nishizawa! Please, I need more money to buy my wife a fancy gift,' one peasant had asked. And I had granted it, happy to help.

"Soon enough, each subject was asking for money every hour, repeating the process for unimportant objects. Even the richest person on the planet couldn't keep up with their requests.

"But I tried. I was their princess and I wanted to grant their wishes, as they had given me their smiles every day for a good ten years. I smiled back at them, as they took my money even though my family's vaults were running dry by the day and my town was being plundered for its vast greenery, and the people who took my money were buying ships to leave since my town was drying up because of their greed.

"It only took a few short years - maybe less, maybe longer, though it felt like such a short time even now - for the once-lush greenery of my home to be dry, run through by the greedy people. The grass, the trees, the farm, the ponds... everything was only sand, the place known as Greed's lands today. Barren and waste-like, the only things able to be seen were broken houses, broken dreams, and the dead earth.

"I had nothing. My people had taken all my money and everything - including the land, food, and even extra clothing from my old lavish life style.

" 'Paul,' I addressed my servant as I lay on the ground, and not my throne. The throne had been given away long ago. 'There's nothing to eat, is there? I gave all the food to my needy subjects.'

"But Paul said nothing. He had died from starvation that had pillaged the land long ago. Now, he was only a decomposing body.

"Sometimes I do wonder if Paul was even more charitable than I, the virtue of Charity. Because he was the one who gave me food in those last weeks, even giving me his food so that I could survive. He's the reason I lasted as long as I did.

"When he died, though... all I had left was the strength to wait for death. Nothing else.

"I remained in my kingdom till the last of my mortal days, dying of starvation as my body gave away and the last mortal words I spoke being long-forgotten, the ineligible gurgling of a starving girl. That was my mortal life."

"So..." Fuyuki was horrified. "...the people killed you with their greed?"

"Somewhat," she answered. "It was I who killed myself, in actuality, because I was too virtuous. I gave away all my kingdom and died from starvation. But as I died, my soul left my body and Dororo greeted me, telling me my life as a mortal was over, and that I was the virtue Charity. I was destined to die, and I'm glad I did on my terms, being the person that I was."

Fuyuki smiled and squeezed her hand again, wondering if she was properly distracted.

"You know, Fuyuki... you don't need to distract me just for myself. I know you're probably curious about all our lives before we were Virtues... You can ask me anything since I've been here longer than you," she said to him.

Fuyuki blushed bashfully. He didn't really want to admit how curious he was about the Virtues' lives.

"Did Koyuki do the same thing? ...Die because she was too kind and patient?" he wondered.

"No. I wasn't here when Koyuki became a Virtue, but Koyuki and Dororo both have told me her story many times. I can tell you it as well."

Fuyuki sat patiently on the ground, looking at Momoka with interest for the story of Koyuki's life.

"She, too, lived in a time of greenery. She lived when their were no Sins at all. She was the first Virtue, and the only Virtue Dororo himself chose to become a Virtue," she began.

Fuyuki listened intently.

"Koyuki lived off in the forest with a clan of her people... people who helped others who needed them. They found her as an orphan, as was their tradition to raise orphans, so she would learn their ways and become a strong ninja. To this day, Koyuki still doesn't know her direct parentage. But she doesn't care.

"Koyuki lived back when the world was new. Little technology, little legends. I believe the only folklore back then was about the accepted god, who sometimes even roamed the Mortal Plane - the Heavenly King, Dororo. Life was peaceful back then, problems only arising from accidents, which Koyuki's clan was dedicated against fighting.

"The Underworld existed, but didn't cause problems, and I know very little about it back then.

"Koyuki lived a happy life, even simpler than mine. Her story starts off when she just grew into a young woman - and, as tradition by her clan, had to complete a rite of passage, spending a week in a forest near their village alone. A forest that her ninja clan had rigged with traps to train her to survive and become stronger. It was dangerous, but a tradition to complete in order for her to become an adult. Some people even died trying to complete this rite of passage.

"Sixteen youths from her village were chosen that week to complete the test. When they completed it, they would come back to the village, choose a mate for themselves, and become a member of the council to make important decisions involving their village.

" 'You can do it,' the Ninja Chief had advised her. 'The forest is dangerous on your own, but you'll be able to survive it. It's only a week on your own. Do what your heart tells you to do.' She was one of the girls he knew had a kind heart and valued friendship more than tradition. Most of the older councilmen in Koyuki's village disliked that fact, but her chief admired it and encouraged it. Koyuki nodded, closed her eyes, and patted her heart, taking his advice to her heart forever.

" 'I would never dream of anything else," she told him, more serious than any other vow she had ever made.

"Hugging the chief and bidding her people good-bye, Koyuki jumped off to start her rite of passage.

"Coincidentally, the King of the Heavens, Dororo, was waiting. The court of Heavenly Virtues had not yet been established, but Dororo knew that it was coming, that he needed more people to help him watch over the world.

"And he only had the power to choose one of them, the others being chosen outside of his control. He had the power to choose the first, Kindness and Patience. And he wanted to make the right decision.

"After all, he had waited a long time to finally bring someone up to the Heavenly Plane with him. Mortals were now advanced enough to join him. Well, one mortal could join him, at least.

"He had waited a long time, been alone a long time, and he wanted his decision to not only be someone that was a kind Virtue, but could also be his friend.

" 'I will blend myself among the mortals, and pretend to be injured, until one of them proves themselves," he decided. He chose to execute his plan in a dangerous forest - a forest that he knew many had died in.

"Dororo let himself fall into a trap that the ninja clan had set up, and he waited - waited until one of the sixteen youths that had been sent into the forest found him and helped him, so that he could judge them.

"Nobody came for the first night. Dororo even saw some pass, ignore, and forget him.

"_What...? Why? Why would they do that?_ Dororo wondered, his eyes watering. They had forgotten him and he was sorrowful because of that. Even the King of the Heavens was someone with feelings. And, being overly sensitive as he was, he cried. He stayed in his trap for a day, until somebody finally saw him and stopped her hunting to look at him.

"It was Koyuki, doing her rite of passage, but confused by the Keronian trapped on the ground.

" 'Are you all right? Here, let me help you!' Koyuki did exactly what Dororo had wanted and freed him. Taking some leaves off the trees, she bandaged him up as well.

" 'Good as new!' Koyuki smiled.

" 'Thank you,' Dororo told her, happy that somebody had finally found him. 'May I ask who you are?'

" 'Koyuki. My name's Koyuki. I'm doing my rite of passage at the moment to survive in this place alone for a week. I'm supposed to be alone, ignoring the other people doing this, but... my Chief told me to trust my heart, and I would be very happy if you accompanied me, since you don't seem to know that much about this forest. So I'll help you!" She seemed to be a very cheerful young girl.

"Dororo took her hand and accepted her invitation. Koyuki didn't know it at the time, but Dororo taking her hand was the first partnership that he had ever made. And the first partnership between a god of the Heavenly Plane and a mortal.

"As the two survived in the forest alone for a week, Dororo found himself drawn to the young woman, not only from her saving him and her beauty, but from how much she understood him and the companionship the two shared. They shared a lot of the same interests and loved nature and people equally. She was his soul mate, or at least he felt that way. It was like his soul had waited a long time just to see her and feel at home again.

"He was falling in love with her.

" 'Lady Koyuki...' Dororo whispered to her on the last day of her test, '...I am not who I say I am.'

" 'I know. Your spiritual aura is different from anything I've ever smelled,' she said to him.

" 'I am the Heavenly King of this world. I rule over the Heavens. And I must return soon, but I was wondering... would you return with me?' he said. 'I got trapped here as a test to find who might be kind enough to help me, and you are my choice.'

" 'I will return with you,' said Koyuki. 'But not because you're the Heavenly King and powerful. Because I'm following my heart. I want to be with you.'

"Dororo held her hands and looked into her eyes.

" 'I want you by my side forever, Lady Koyuki,' said Dororo. 'Would you be the first Virtue in my court... and my other piece? I love you, Lady Koyuki.' He bent down on one knee to make things more traditional. Looking up at her with his blue eyes, he said the next few words with all his heart. 'Lady Koyuki... would you marry me and return to the Heavenly Plane with me to live as a Virtue forever?'

"Koyuki kissed him, their kiss being a pact between two lovers. The kiss was so strong and fierce in love, but also secretive, something that even stories and lore wouldn't ever be able to replicate. 'I do,' Koyuki told Dororo and the two ascended to the Heavens, throwing away their mortal flesh.

"I suppose Koyuki's mortal body was found dead in the forest and her clan just assumed she had failed the test, but that was a question I never really remembered to ask about.

"What's important is that they got married and lived happily together, having a lovey dovey and romantic life every day!" Momoka finished - obviously excited, because she was the virtue of Love. "They're this sort of beautiful couple to live up to, but don't worry, I'm sure we can someday achieve such a happy life like them," she flirted.

Fuyuki didn't hear her.

"Wow. So I guess their story wasn't really something big, deep, and exciting, but just a love story!" he inferred. "And the Underworld didn't interfere with mortals back then?"

"Nope. They barely did anything when Koyuki lived. Apparently, the war started after she joined the Heavens," said Momoka.

Fuyuki thought for a moment about her stories and the very real lives each of the Virtues had lived.

"And... the Sins..." Fuyuki frowned. "They lived as mortals too... They're just like us, from what Koyuki told me..." He wasn't sure whether to find this information interesting or disturbing - that, in the same way Momoka had lived her life charitably and died, the sins had done the same... except sinfully.

Momoka paused and frowned as well.

"I... I didn't know that..." she admitted. Fuyuki crossed his hands and sat down patiently, awaiting another story. Momoka had none to tell.

As if on cue, the virtue of Patience was summoned, and Koyuki dropping down from a cloud above them. "You were talking about the Sins and how they lived as mortals?" Koyuki asked, her eyes dancing with curiosity from Momoka and Fuyuki's story-telling event. "I was listening above you guys on like your cloud-ceiling while you were telling stories! You didn't even notice. It was great. I really liked liked listening to the story about Dororo and me. It was so sweet! Really abridged, but that's okay! It still brought great nostalgia!" Koyuki grinned, getting distracted from the Sins.

"What were the Sins' lives as mortals?" Fuyuki asked, still waiting for his story and prompting Koyuki out of memory lane. She paused before answering.

"Ah... I see you want a detailed explanation... I'll tell you, but only so that Dororo doesn't have to tell. He's a bit touchy about the stories, since he feels each one is just a soul he couldn't save."

"What do you mean?" said Fuyuki.

"The second sin... The second Sin that came to be was one Dororo tried to save. This was the Sin who lived in Momoka's time. You've never met him, but he's known as Greed and Sloth." Koyuki's head turned downward ever so slightly as she recalled Keroro's life, or at least the bits and pieces that Dororo had told her about. Fuyuki felt sorrowful, almost scared to learn about the Sins, but also interested and very excited to hear the story of Greed, the Sin that had wrecked Momoka's life.

Koyuki began her story, speaking briskly and quickly, only knowing bits and pieces from what she had heard.

"As you know, the time in which Greed lived was a time with lush greenery and happiness... Not many Sins lived in that time; the world was only inhabited by Lust and Pride, and a lot of the world was spared from that Sin's influence...

"Keroro, the mortal name of Greed, lived in a town similar to Momoka's, but farther away. The town was not one of the lucky few that had been spared, and a lot of the people living in it were influenced by the sin of Pride, it being a town in Pride's lands.

"Keroro lived a sheltered life in his town, that to protect itself had a militaristic government, rewarding only those who did well in battle. Keroro's father was one of the top generals, and because of that, Keroro had things handed to him on a silver platter, growing up to learn that being lazy was okay... but otherwise rather happy.

"He had a lot of stress and pressure on him to become an important general in his town, like his father, which caused him to be worse than what he actually was, and rather childish when left alone, due to trying to get rid of all that stress.

"He was not overly bad, being just a child at the time, though selfish and lazy like one. He would have grown out of it, hopefully. He had the potential to be much kinder... But he was marked by the Underworld to become a Sin after death, sort of like how you were to become a Virtue after death, Fuyuki.

" 'Koyuki...' Dororo told me one day as we lay across a cloud, gazing at the Mortal Plane, '...that man has been branded by the Underworld... He's going to become a Sin after death.'

" 'What? No, that's awful...' I mourned over a soul that we could not save and would become our enemy.

" 'I'm going to stop it. I'm going to befriend him and make sure he doesn't sin. I will save him from his fate,' Dororo had vowed. He believed this fullheartily. He was so determined, and I believed that as the Heavenly King, Dororo had the power to stop Keroro from becoming a Sin. So I didn't stop him, which proved to be a great mistake.

"Dororo descended to the mortal plane, pretending to be a mortal and meeting with Keroro. He started out optimistic and hopeful about Keroro's fate.

"Keroro was so overjoyed to have someone as a friend... at first. The two were the best of friends, doing everything together and having unforgettable years of fun that Dororo had never experienced.

"That was, until Keroro started growing up a little bit more, and the stress of the entire town expecting him to be something great started getting to him. He started exploiting Dororo, unsure of why Dororo lived a life of luxury and luck but exploiting it anyway. He would pick on him and somehow trick the Heavenly King himself to do things for him in the name of 'friendship,' doing things that would hurt Dororo, that were dangerous and risky, that Keroro would do for the adrenaline but ditch out at the last minute without telling Dororo, or con him into doing things that the Heavenly Kingdoms look down upon, like stealing.

"Dororo didn't realize that he was being used. He had forgotten his goal after being on the mortal plane for a bit. He thought Keroro was in no risk at all of becoming a Sin, because their friendship was stronger than the Underworld.

"Over the years, Keroro started ignoring him and not paying attention to him, but Dororo just remained determined to show him a positive example and protect his friend from any hardship, which caused him to use his Heavenly Powers to make Keroro even more lazy and greedy.

"Dororo's mental health was hurting from the years of neglect and abuse, and finally he confronted Keroro one day, forgetting about his goal of keeping Keroro safe and keeping him out of a sinful path, and just wanting to be like a mortal and find resolve their friendship issue.

" 'K-Keroro... I thought we were friends... Why do you ignore me and treat me so badly sometimes?' Dororo had cried with watery tears that any mortal would laugh at, if they knew the Heavenly King had cried so hard.

" 'We are! That's why I need you to use your special abilities to steal that toy!' Keroro had convinced him. The toy that Keroro wanted wasn't any normal sort of toy. It was the icon and badge of his town, the most important treasure of his town that everyone guarded with love - a ball that was black and had great power, but also with fun buttons to press, called the Kero Ball.

"Dororo had bought into it anyway. He stole the toy for Keroro, knowing that no mortal could see him except for Keroro. And since Keroro was the mortal, he was trying to woo away from a sinful lifestyle.

"Dororo was caught, though. As soon as the soldier who happened to be guarding the Kero Ball looked over his shoulder and realized that it was gone, the town was in panic.

"Keroro was never very stealthy, and as he played with the Kero Ball his father found him and caught him.

" 'Thief!' his father yelled. 'You have brought shame to us all! How can I let the town know that you stole our most prized possession?'

" 'I'm sorry...' Keroro squeaked out, but as he looked around for Dororo, Dororo just stood there, not helping and waiting for Keroro to prove that he was selfless, for Keroro to throw away any sort of bond he shared with the Underworld. Keroro saw Dororo standing there, and didn't realize nobody but himself could see him, and got angry that his father was blaming him instead of Dororo.

" 'It was Dororo!" Keroro accused, pointing to what looked like nothing to his father... instead, proving that he was not in the least bit selfless. His father frowned in disapproval.

" 'I see nothing,' his father growled. That was when the sin of Pride infected Keroro's father, and his father began to feel anger toward his son instead of love - but most of all he felt fear... fear that Keroro would ruin his reputation that he was so prideful of. In a blind rage, thanks to the sin of Pride, his father looked at Keroro and Keroro's accusing grin began to fade.

"Instead of running, Keroro didn't move - perhaps he was too lazy to even run from his own death, perhaps he felt sorrow for how Dororo might have just been a stress-induced hallucination, perhaps he was tired of a town living in fear of themselves. I do not know; Dororo and I never talk about it, his theory being that Keroro was loyal to the Underworld even then. And when Pride ordered something, he was happy to do it, unlike how listening to Dororo had been something that he had never followed through with.

"It didn't matter. All that mattered was that Keroro was soon strangled by his own father and Dororo watched on, betrayed by how Keroro had not even selfless in death.

"He hoped that his friendship would still save Keroro's soul, but Keroro became a Sin anyway and Dororo felt forever betrayed by his old friend and his worst mistake.

"Keroro was so filled with Sin that Dororo couldn't help, and because of his failure to help Keroro and Keroro's betrayal toward him, Dororo has felt bitter toward the Sins ever since," Koyuki finished.

"Wow..." Fuyuki had no words.

"Dororo gave up on helping any Sins after that... He broke... But he probably should have at least tried to help Envy..." Koyuki admitted.

"What happened to Envy?" he asked.

"He was alone. And that loneliness is what made him actually seek out Hell itself and make a contract to become a Sin on his own," she said.

Fuyuki listened to the next story with a bit of excitement.

"Tamama... Envy's mortal name... lived on his own, the rest of his village too afraid of the way he ate everything in sight to let him live among them. They had chased him out while he was still a young boy.

He was desperate for companionship, anyone, as he lived in a hole all his own all alone.

_Somebody... please help me...' _Tamama prayed day after day to the Heavens that he had heard about as a child. Dororo wasn't listening though, instead turning his back on anyone branded a Sin, after the mishap with Keroro. Dororo had been betrayed before, and he wasn't going to let it happen again.

"Soon enough, Tamama realized his prayers were pointless and left his hole to search for food, the only good thing in his life. That was the only thing in his thoughts besides wishing death on the townsfolk who had abandoned him, being jealous of how they had other people to help them out.

"The Scavengers that lived in his land had gotten all the food though, and Tamama was hungry, since he was starving to death. Nobody would have been impacted by his death, or even care if he died. He knew that, but he still wanted to live.

" 'Stupid scavengers... I wish I were you...' Tamama growled at the bug-like things that pillaged through the land.

"Tamama was different than the townsfolk, however. He was unafraid of the scavengers; he didn't run from them, as he already knew he was dying.

" 'I... I need food...' He told them as they were about to claw at him with their pincers, 'Please...' Tamama put his hands up in a praying fashion, the Heavens not hearing his plea. ...Maybe the Scavengers would?

"They didn't, instead about to lunge at him and swallow the small tadpole up.

" 'Stop!' a voice yelled, getting between Tamama and the Scavenger at the last moment. The Scavenger backed down, listening to their master. The thing that had answered Tamama's prayers was the sin of Greed, the leader of the Scavengers.

"The Green Keronian who had protected Tamama smiled at the young tadpole and handed him food.

" 'You prayed to me... Nobody's done that before. I like it, but I suppose I would, being Greed.' The green Keronian laughed in a happy sort of way. He handed Tamama some food and candy. 'I can spare this.'

" 'He then turned away, to go back to the sand and the Underworld. The sand swallowed him up in a sandstorm.

" 'WAIT!' Tamama yelled, sticking out his hand to try to stop the man - the handsome man who had saved him. He didn't want to be alone. And in all his life only this person had helped him.

"It was too late, though. The Keronian was gone.

_Greed... You're the only one who helped me and answered my calls... _Tamama thought. _You saved me... _Deciding in a split-second decision, Tamama turned his back on the prayers that he had given to the Heavens and embraced Hell. _I'll find you again. And I'll give you those prayers you liked. I'll be yours and you'll be mine. _The Sin that had saved him Tamama had fallen in love with.

"And no longer alone, he no longer pitied and felt sorry for himself. Instead he had a purpose, and his purpose made his determination burn bright.

"Searching the lands for the entrance to Hell itself to reunite with his love who was no spirit of good, but instead of evil, Tamama ate whatever he found in his path, and was envious of any happy couple he passed.

"Eventually he finally found the entrance to Hell. He entered through the doors laced with evil because of his conviction and determination.

" 'I want in. I want to be with Greed,' he had told the Lord of the Underworld.

"Why, you already _are_ in, Tamama... Look at yourself, you're a sin! You've been branded a sin since you were born. That's why you were always treated so differently,' the Lord had told him. Tamama had looked, and for once he felt whole and in place. He was a Sin. He belonged here.

"Throwing away his mortal body, he remained in the Underworld, taking his rightful place by Greed's side.

"He joined Greed, but his jealousy never ended, and he felt betrayed that his love followed the Lord's every order. He never fully trusted the Lord, but knew he belonged in the Underworld, and was forever jeolous of the way the Lord ordered Greed around.

"His new determination was to end her and the control she held over Greed, but he was trapped as a Sin and could never disobey.

_I will be the best sin I can be, but I'll always hate that woman!_ was Tamama's oath," Koyuki ended her story of Tamama's life.

"Wow... That's actually pretty sad... I didn't know people could fall in love with Sins," Fuyuki admitted.

_Your mom can,_ Koyuki was about to say, but was cut off by another voice.

"They can." It was Dororo who had walked in. He didn't reprimand Koyuki for telling the Sin's stories, and instead sat down, tired.

"I suppose you now know about my mistakes..." He felt rather guilty. "There's no reason to hide anything more from you. Is there anything other knowledge you search for?" he asked; after all, he would never scold one of his curious Virtues. He just didn't like remembering the Sins' stories.

"Pride. Tell me about him," Fuyuki requested, needing to know about the Sin that his mother had briefly dated.

"Not much that I know. Besides the fact that he was born a jerk and died a jerk. He came to be around the same time Koyuki did. While I was choosing my first Virtue for my court and my mate, the Lord did the same, choosing for herself amongst the mortals," explained Dororo.

"All I know is that out of all the greenery and happiness that existed around that time, around _him_ was the least happy. He was an inventor in a small town, very proud of his inventions, and also happened to have the motto of 'jerk till the end,' which he followed through with only a little too well, terrorizing the town. I don't know if he was infected with the Sin of Lust back then; he probably was; but he also suffered from nobody in his town really liking him...

"And... weirdly enough, if I remember correctly, around his town and him was one of the few places I couldn't control. I used to have full control over the world, being the Heavenly King... but his town... I suppose looking back on it must have been under the control of the Underworld. Actually, I lost control over that town after he grew up quite a bit. The Underworld... well, it never used to do anything, just sitting around under the ground as a place, the Lord of It All doing I don't know what.

"But when Pride started selling his inventions that were rather faulty - on purpose, mind you, but getting a bad name for himself nonetheless - the Underworld finally made its move and claimed its first town... and I lost control of everything in it. The townspeople who used to dislike this jerky inventor and who mocked him were now punished painfully, and it was the first time I saw the Underworld use its powers of destruction.

"The Lord of the Underworld probably went down to Pride and offered him the position of Sin, similar to how I asked Koyuki to become a Virtue. I don't know what attracted the Lord so much to him... I'm still not quite too sure what attracted your mother to him, since he's one of the cruelest Sins I've ever met. And most certainly the most sinful of them... but she offered him the same thing that I offered Koyuki, a partnership, absolute power and to be her mate.

"I... I don't really want to think about how the sin of Lust can be anyone's mate... I don't even really know if they're together... Well, I do know that they are sexually; I think he let that slip once in the past when he was battling with me and he actually won due to my disgust..."

Dororo turned pink at the memories and became bashful around the subject of Kululu's sex life. Fuyuki didn't blame him, instead wondering why Dororo wasn't the virtue of Chastity himself, being so awkward about things.

_Oh yeah, because of Koyuki... Eww! Now I don't want to think about awkward things!_ Fuyuki blushed and covered his ears.

"Anyway, Pride lived his life as a different sort of person at birth, a baby delighting in the unusual and pain of people. Quite difficult. Because of that, the townsfolk isolated him and mocked him for whatever he did, thinking of him as a sort of monster. Weirdly enough, he did become a monster, a Sin. The lesson here is to be virtuous and never say anybody's a monster. Unless, of course, they are a real monster. Then apologize and run away. Well, the Sins are monsters and we're fighting them but..." Dororo got off-track by philosophy, "Oh yeah, Pride's life! After the Lord of the Underworld took him away similar to how I took Koyuki away, the war with the Underworld started after that and they became a lot more active," he finished

Fuyuki was disappointed by the lack of information on Pride's life as a mortal, but realized it was still enough. Pride hadn't been killed and merely left his mortal to body like Koyuki had. Fuyuki winced, remembering how the Lord of the Underworld and Pride were sort of together. He didn't particularly want to tell his mother the bad but true news that Pride was with someone else. He didn't want to be that sort of guy to tell her, "I told you so."

"Wh-what about... Wrath? What was his life like?" Fuyuki asked.

Dororo's expression became sad. "I have seen each and every Sin descend into madness... However, Wrath's is by far the one I find saddest. He is the most recent of Sins, angry in life by the conditions the world threw at him, but using his wrath to fight against the world and enemies, along with his brother who loved him.

"The two were close. Maybe closer than you and your old, mortal sister. However, an acid flood happened where they lived, and Wrath got caught in it. He died painfully along with most of his family, fighting back instead of accepting death. I... I wanted to believe that he'd be the one to throw away the sinful lifestyle. After all, in his life he did nothing wrong, so the Underworld couldn't take him, could it?

"But it did. He became a sin, anyway. He arrived at the Underworld younger than any of the other sins had. And because he was younger, he couldn't take the evil and whispers of the Underworld. His memories at first of his mortal life were strong, like yours were when you first arrived here. I have to say that not all Virtues and Sins have their memories when they arrive, but rather, that they come to them over time. Keroro and Momoka were like that.

"But Giroro..." Dororo furrowed his brow. "...He had his memories at first, and because of that, he couldn't stand becoming what he had been fighting. He couldn't stand being a Sin. He tried to destroy his body, wanting to help the world his brother still lived in... He took a sword and stabbed at his own face, scarring it considerably... I've heard rumors that the other Sins tried to help calm him down, and took the sword out of his hands... The Lord of the Underworld then put body into a sort of hibernation... a sleep so that he could mature and take his place as a Sin, powerful and deadly. I don't know what sleeping in the Underworld does to you, but he must have descended into madness.

"When he woke up, he didn't remember anything... And the memories didn't return to him over time... They're gone, and so is his soul, and who he once was," said Dororo. "I tried to reason with him once - I had seen him as a mortal, since I watch over all mortals. I had seen what he once was... But he doesn't listen to reason. He is no longer the Keronian known as Giroro, he's only Wrath. If that's the Underworld's fault or his own I do not know, because he's too hot-tempered and enjoys fighting too much to listen to any reason. He's destructive, and attacks whenever and on any whim, never getting his fill of violence. His story is sad, but who he is now is dangerous and our enemy... I'd like to help him, but I have given up hope. It could only hurt us again.

"I'm sorry, Fuyuki but that's all I have to say. And I have to advise you to do the same towards the sins. They'll always remain sins, even the most hopeful cases." Dororo looked at Fuyuki sorrowfully.

Fuyuki saddened. These distraction stories were way bigger downers than he had wanted. He sat in silence for a few minutes, letting all the information just sink in. He didn't want to fight with Dororo on this, since Dororo had way more experience than him. All Fuyuki wanted was as much information as he could get after all, not to change anything... Not yet, at least.

He was a scholar, he wanted to learn, not to do. He wanted to experience history, not to change. Fuyuki tried to change the subject from the sad Sin stories that had dampened everybody's mood. "What was your life like as a Mortal, Dororo?" he finally asked.

"I was never a mortal. I was always the Heavenly King," said Dororo.

_You can't just come into existence from nothing though... Right? _Fuyuki thought. _The Sins and Virtues were all something before they were Sins and Virtues... And some of them were chosen... They all had a reason for being there; they were marked... But... Where did the Lord and Dororo come from then? Who put them here?_

wondered to himself, the stories missing a piece of information. The information being about them. The Rulers of It All.

The mysterious Lord of the Underworld and Dororo... and who controlled them.

Fuyuki wanted to find out.


	15. Protective Anger

**Disclaimer: I still own nothing.**

**This chapter is the one so many of you probably were excited for. The chapter where Giroro and Natsumi first meet. **

* * *

"_Love is something wonderful that gives everyone and anyone a reason to fight for what they believe in. The heart is never dark." -The Heavenly King Dororo_

* * *

Giroro frowned, sitting at the round table that all the Sins met up at to discuss their plans of action for their war.

The topic of today's discussion was Zoruru, and Tamama had given some very disturbing news.

"He destroyed my Devourers! He... He just slashed at them! They were supposed to Devourer but now that group is gone... Even my new convert," Tamama cried. The Devourers would turn anything they ate into a Devourer themselves, and one member of the group that Natsumi Hinata was in had been devoured. The girl Karara would have made a fine addition to Tamama's troops, but thanks to Zoruru, she was now gone.

"I don't trust Zoruru. I think he came here to gain more power from us and use that power to protect his friends. After all, even though he was turned into a monster by the Heavenly King, why would he betray his only friends?" said Giroro. He didn't trust Zoruru, nor did he buy his story. Honestly he was still a little mad that he hadn't realized that the Underworld had a door mortals could get in. He didn't really want to be granting magic revenge-wishes.

Keroro coughed and sat up from his position in his obsidian chair. He still slouched, but he seemed to be taking an active part in the conversation. "We never told him to betray his friends. Only kill this Natsumi Hinata. I don't think he did anything wrong, so we don't yet have a reason to distrust him," he said with a shrug. It only concerned Zoruru and Natsumi, not Zoruru and the friends he _did_ care about.

"Ku, ku, ku... Shouldn't you be able to trust Zoruru the most, Giroro?" asked Kululu, sitting at the head of the table and leading the discussion, as usual. The Lord wasn't around and only rarely met with them for battle plans. Often all she did was sleep, not caring to set aside the time to make strategies about the war, so she had entrusted the strategy-making process to Kululu, who was still under house-arrest.

"Why would I trust Zoruru the most?!" Giroro slammed his fist down on the table, angry that Kululu might have been accusing him of being a spy, completely disloyal to the Underworld.

"Because you're Wrath. Duh. Shouldn't you be able to feel his wrath?" said Kululu. Giroro paused.

"I... I do feel his wrath... his need for revenge... But I still don't trust him. He's got too many ties to the Mortal Plane, like his friends. That will cause him to be weak since he won't want to betray his friends. He's not completely resolved on his decision to help us," he predicted.

"Ku, so what? Killing that Natsumi girl would be great and all and would cause the Virtues to grieve a lot, but if she was really all that important, we could just as easily kill her ourselves."

"B-but I don't want to actually do things and have to do them myself! That requires effort!" Keroro complained loudly.

"Hey, isn't Natsumi Aki's daughter?" Tamama pointed out. "I thought you and she were together, Kululu. So why would you want Natsumi dead?"

"Ku, easy. If Natsumi Hinata really is the key to the Heavens and could make them fall and become weaker with her death, then I'd want to take that chance. After all, even if I _was_ seeing Aki, I'd still want to win our war. Those Heavens are way too pure and uptight for my liking. Ku ku ku. We deserve to rule the world instead of them!" Kululu explained.

No one was too surprised in hearing his main goal - ruling over everything.

"And it wasn't like I actually cared about Aki. Ku, I don't care about anyone but myself and you should know that."

"Wow. You're such a jerk," Tamama hummed. "I don't know how any of us even stand you."

"Probably because I have more power than the rest of you.~ And a higher rank being the original Sin. Ku, ku, ku!" he bragged. Everyone frowned at him, wishing they didn't have to deal with him. But they did.

Giroro tried to steer the conversation back to Natsumi.

"Natsumi Hinata is related to two Virtues, correct? So her death really would be important, since the Virtues still have personal ties to the Mortal Plane. Natsumi's death would cause them to grieve and become broken, unable to have a will to fight because someone they loved died. Right?" he asked, trying to figure out if he got things right.

Everybody nodded. "Right."

"Stupid Virtues still having family in the mortal plane." Giroro gave a good hearty laugh. All the other Sins sort of stared at him, not really saying anything.

_I do kind of want to meet this girl though. This girl who holds so much power over the Virtues' hearts, but still fights on her own for survival. She's probably not that strong... Being close to the Virtues, she's my enemy... I bet I could beat her easily... _Giroro thought to himself. Then an idea struck him. _Kululu said that if she was really important we could kill her ourselves... And I still don't trust Zoruru to do the job. We also don't know how strong Natsumi Hinata really is, how easy a job Zoruru will have, or how strong he even is..._

Giroro stood up in his chair to make a suggestion to the group.

"We need to gauge Natsumi Hinata and Zoruru's strength. See if we really could take them both out ourselves if it's necessary. I'm the strongest Sin out of all of us physically. Let me go up to the Mortal Plane, attack them directly, and test our little spy's strength," he requested. _It will also be interesting to see what this Natsumi is like... Someone who holds so much power over the Heavenly Kingdoms and who has become the main discussion point of the Underworld._

"Ku, you'll probably screw up. You're always kind of a screw-up," Kululu told him, not exactly trusting Giroro either and always liking to pick on him, always making a remark that would hurt Giroro's Pride. After all, Kululu, being the sin of such, wanted to hoard it for himself alone.

"I'm not the one under house-arrest in Hell itself right now," said Giroro. Kuulu didn't know whether to look proud or unhappy that he was under house-arrest.

"I think it would be fine for you to do," Keroro put in. "Better you doing it than me after all."

"I'll vote whatever Mr. Keroro does!" Tamama piped up, putting his hand on top of Keroro's as if to hold it. Keroro awkwardly took his hand away.

_Over 10,000 years together and he still doesn't know Envy likes him. That's a new level of oblivious,_ Giroro thought in his head.

"Ku. Well, I do want to get some new information about our battle and to be doing something while I'm unable to leave, so I suppose I approve your suggestion. I guess you could say, go up to the mortals and give 'em Hell?" Kululu began laughing uncontrollably at his own personal joke that nobody else got. Maybe it was an inside joke or something?

Or maybe it was just Kululu laughing uncontrollably as normal.

"I won't fail. I'll test both their strengths, and if Zoruru fails at deflecting me or fails to take the opportunity to kill Natsumi... I'll kill him." Giroro grinned a wide, sharp, toothy smile.

"Like I said before. You better not screw up. Ku, ku, ku. Hopefully my faith in you will not be proven useless... Who am I kidding, of course it will!" Kululu laughed again at one of his favorite non-lusty hobbies, making fun of Giroro.

"Bye!" Keroro waved, wanting to dismiss the meeting and get back to playing with toys. Giroro turned away from the meeting table and walked out.

He would find out how strong this Natsumi Hinata was... And he would make her feel that Wrath was one of the worst and most fearsome of the Sins.

He couldn't wait to battle.

* * *

Natsumi led the group to a place that would conceal them from danger for a few hours as they rested from the attack. The place was one underground, filled with geysers and hot steam that acted as fog, concealing their location and even the shape of their bodies.

She was happy that Zoruru had somehow survived, but so many questions for him were also in her mind.

"Questions should come later." Surprisingly, Garuru was the one who hushed her curiosity. "We need to recover first. That battle was difficult and we must rest the injured." He helped stabilize Pururu, letting her lean on his shoulder. Helping her down onto a rock, he tried to examine her, even though she had more experience when it came to injuries and anything medically-related than him.

Garuru was the type of person, when it came to medical know-how, to believe that, if you shook someone hard enough, they would wake up from drowning.

Sadly, that hadn't been the case with his brother.

"You okay?" Garuru asked Pururu, knowing the Devourers had hit her hard and had almost taken her life if not for Natsumi's intervention. Pururu nodded.

"You should... help Natsumi. I know you probably want to be by her side. Zoruru's here... he can help me rest. Natsumi had to exert a lot of strength in that battle and I wouldn't have made it if not for her... Please make sure she's okay and thank her for me." With a smile, Pururu tried to drop her petty jealousy for Natsumi. Natsumi had saved her life; now she believed that the two of them were friends. Pururu had no right to hate the girl just because the person she was in love with liked Natsumi instead of her. Those things were out of her control and both Garuru and Natsumi were important to her. It was best to give her blessings, because both of them would treat each other right and the way they deserved.

Garuru nodded silently, ordering Zoruru to sit by Pururu's side while he conversed with Natsumi.

"So..." Zoruru was about to say something to Pururu, asking her if she was okay with the Garuru-and-Natsumi scenario or something. His voice sounded so raspy and metallic that it scared him, and he stopped speaking.

It didn't matter if Pururu was over Garuru and Natsumi. Natsumi and Garuru wouldn't be together anyway, because he was going to kill Natsumi.

Garuru approached Natsumi and sat by her side.

"You were impressive. I've never fought the Devourers before, but you figured out beat them. I'm glad... I can trust you with my safety and our group's safety," he said to her. He didn't need to carry all the lives of the group on his back. He had someone to help him out and to protect them.

"Those Devourers were terrifying! I... I forgot that there were other monsters in the other lands as bad... if not worse... than the Scavengers," Natsumi admitted.

"We fought them off, though. The first victory against a new enemy is always the hardest," Garuru said. He looked over his shoulder to recheck on the rest of the group. Tororo was hugging Chiroro and trying to comfort her over Karara's death. Pururu was giving him a thumbs-up and nodding at him, as if encouraging Garuru to continue something with Natsumi.

"Natsumi... I... I'm happy that someone like you exists and I thank you for saving all our lives..." Garuru admitted, trying to keep calm and serious without blushing at telling Natsumi how much she meant to him. "Admittedly, after my brother died a while back, I didn't really trust anyone but myself to protect anything... And I didn't even trust myself to protect the people important to me correctly, since I've failed time and time again to protect my friends... Taruru dying and Zoruru getting... well, I don't know what happened to Zoruru... Pururu almost died because I couldn't protect her; I thought she would die... just like my brother died and left me...

"But you saved her. You saved Pururu for me... I learned when you saved Pururu that I didn't need to be in the past and worry about my brother and failing... because if I fail, you'll help me... I understand that now," he told her. It almost seemed that he was trying to be romantic, but ended up just telling Natsumi how much she healed him.

Natsumi smiled. She, too, had lost a brother, and although she still felt sad for his death, she was happy that she had met so many new people. She knew what Garuru was trying to say.

"Natsumi... You're the person I trust the most... The person who will watch my back, and I hope to watch yours in return, and protect you in the way that I could never protect my brother..." he confessed.

Natsumi felt their faces getting closer. It was slow and subtle, but she knew it was happening. Her face heated up, not from the heat and gas in the cavern, but from the knowledge that her first kiss was about to happen.

"Garuru... I feel the same way... I know it's hard to lose family... The same thing happened to me... But don't think of yourself as a failure because your brother died. He's probably in the afterlife, up with all those souls in the Heavenly Kingdom looking down and watching you, remembering his older brother who loved him so much... He wouldn't think of you as a failure, so you shouldn't either," Natsumi told him.

"Natsumi... Do you really think so?" Garuru pulled away for a moment to talk about his brother more. "I always thought... maybe I should try to forget him... Focus on what was in front of me now and protect what he would have wanted... Admittedly, maybe that was why I let Karara die instead of protecting her... I wanted so badly to protect Pururu and pretend that she was the person I was protecting all these years instead of my brother, and that the person I loved so much was still alive... Maybe that's why I'm so over-protective of her... She's sort of a stand-in for my brother..." he realized. Natsumi wrapped her arms around Garuru, throwing away his pride as a leader to comfort him.

"It's all right... You don't need to forget your brother... Don't see your brother in Pururu... See him in yourself. Let him live within you. Like I let Fuyuki live within me... It's like... I feel Fuyuki watching over me... I even heard him say 'thank you' to me after he had died. His spirit still lives somewhere, and I'm okay with that. He's moved on and is at rest, happy and living a stress-free life..." Natsumi said.

"You... felt your brother's spirit with you even after death?" Garuru smiled at the hope that his brother's spirit was resting and happy. He hugged Natsumi back, needing the comfort. "I won't forget my brother, then. I'll let him live within me and not anyone else," he promised.

"Good..." Natsumi smiled. She looked into Garuru's eyes, their lips moving closer again. "What was your brother's name?" she asked, hoping that the last piece of information and Garuru saying his brother's name would be enough to let Garuru's younger brother's soul rest in peace.

Garuru stopped moving closer to Natsumi and pulled away.

"Giroro!" he yelled.

_Well... That wasn't exactly the type of answer I was expecting. _Natsumi thought to herself.

"That's good... Let Giroro rest in peace..." Natsumi told him soothingly.

"N-no..." Garuru shook his head and put his hand on Natsumi's face, angling her chin in the other direction. Then he pointed.

In the foggy steam-like gas, a Keronian silhouette stood watching them. Natsumi couldn't make out much of his shape besides the fact that he was wearing a belt.

The silhouette stepped forward out of the steam to show himself. Grinning, Natsumi could see that he had sharp teeth just like Garuru and that his red face was scarred around the left eye. A skull insignia was on his hat.

Although he seemed just like the other Keronians that she was traveling with, something about this Keronian seemed different, an aura of anger and something unsettling surrounding him.

Tororo dragged Chiroro behind some rocks with him to hide, picking up on the unsettling feeling as if this Keronian was an enemy, not a friend, and was going to attack.

Pururu's jaw hung open at the new arrival.

Zoruru seemed to be the only one not shocked... or perhaps it was the fact that he appeared very stoic and his emotions were masked. Kind of hard to show emotions when you only have half your face.

"T-that's... The same belt I gave Giroro... the day that he died..." Garuru pointed at it, then looked around and realized everyone else could see the strange Keronian.

"How do you know my name?" Giroro demanded.

Garuru's jaw dropped open. He froze, it being one of the few times his breath was honestly taken away. "G-Giroro..." He completely forgot about being by Natsumi's side and ran forward. Natsumi could tell that under his vizor, his eyes were watering.

The Keronian called Giroro waved a hand up before Garuru could reach and touch him, and the geyser between them shot lava instead of water.

"W-what...?" Pururu tried to stand up.

"I don't know who you are, but if it's a fight you want, I'm happy to give it... After all, I came here to fight... To see if you mortals were strong enough to live, or if you deserve to die." He grinned, his teeth sharp and pointy - just like Garuru's.

"Ah... So you're here as a test..." Zoruru finally spoke, eying Giroro sternly. Natsumi didn't really get what he was saying, or what was happening.

"Who are you?" Natsumi finally asked. She didn't believe he was Garuru's brother. She knew what he was there for now, and that was all that mattered.

"I guess even a Pekoponian like you is curious what you're up against," Giroro spoke.

_Pekoponian? Don't only those aligned with the Underworld call us humans that? _Natsumi thought. All of a sudden, a fearful sense of who the strong Keronian was dawned on her.

"I am Wrath," Giroro bellowed. "One of the Seven Sins of the Underworld."

_Oh no... Oh no! _Natsumi realized. A Sin. Their group had only ever been up against monsters aligned with the Sin. Now, she was up against one of the seven strongest Demons of the Underworld.

"No..." Garuru got up trying to avoid the stream of lava that now separated him from Giroro. "You... You can't be Wrath... You're my brother... Giroro..." He was hurt, mentally and physically - and Natsumi realized that.

"I don't ever recall that. You must be wrong," Giroro told him, growling.

"I'm not wrong! You must have just forgotten... What did that awful place... the Underworld... do to you?" said Garuru.

_Not only is he one of the strongest Sins... he's Garuru's brother. All that stuff about his brother resting in peace in the Heavenly Kingdom... I was wrong... So wrong... _Natsumi realized.

She hoped that Garuru was strong enough to pull through and fight. He was one of the few of them that had any actual weapons, after all.

"I'm not who you think I am. You are not my brother." As if to prove this, Giroro took out one of his own guns and shot at Garuru with a bullet that lit on fire from Giroro's intense rage.

The bullet hit Garuru in the chest, causing him to fall down. He hadn't even tried to dodge the bullet - as if he thought his pain would somehow snap his brother out of this madness.

Garuru fell down, his will to fight faltering.

"Pathetic..." Giroro growled.

"NO!" Pururu screamed from the background. She hurried over to Garuru's side. "Giroro... Why?"

"You're already failing the test to determine if you'll live or die today. I guess I'm not as much of a failure as Kululu thought." Giroro pointed his gun towards Pururu's head as she stood in front of Garuru, trying to keep him away from his dangerous brother.

Before he could shoot, Zoruru darted forward, using his new metal-armed blade to slash at Giroro, only for Giroro to use his gun as as a sort of shield and slash back with his own knife.

"Leave! There's no reason for you to be here!" Natsumi could almost hear Zoruru whisper.

Giroro seemed pleased. "At least _you're_ putting up a fight... That's something, at least."

Pururu desperately tried to treat Garuru's wound before he bled out and died. All he did was call out Giroro's name, desperate for his brother to come back.

_We're losing horribly... _Natsumi realized, knowing that although Zoruru was putting up a fight, under Giroro's sheer power it wouldn't last long. "Hey!" she called to Giroro, drawing attention to herself. It was time for her to fight back. She had beaten the Devourers, and now she would beat Wrath himself. _He might be a Sin, but I won't give up. I can beat him! I'm sure of it! I'm stronger! _she thought to herself.

"Do you want me to pick on you, Pekoponian? I admire your courage and warrior spirit, but you are a weak mortal... And I'm in the middle of a fight already..." Giroro snapped his fingers and all the geysers shot lava. The ground shifted and begin changing, as if like a maze that if she made one wrong step in, there would be death.

She could no longer see Giroro and Zoruru, but she knew they were fighting behind the wall of fire Giroro had conjured up. She knew she had to beat Giroro before he got back to Garuru and killed him.

Natsumi began to jump up each rock that was still in the middle of changing made, getting higher - instead of closer - to the wall of fire Giroro was fighting behind.

She could hear Zoruru's grunts along with Giroro's, who still both seemed to be in the middle of fighting.

Climbing higher and higher, avoiding streams of lava, Natsumi finally made it to the highest point - the point where she could see past the wall of fire and to Zoruru.

Giroro shot at Zoruru, and the bullets impacted him against the wall.

"You put up an okay fight for a mortal, but I win..." he told him.

Natsumi jumped, not caring if she would be wounded upon impact. It was time to switch in and fight Giroro herself.

Landing on Giroro's side of the fire wall, she grabbed him and lifted him up before he could shoot at Zoruru.

"W-what?" Giroro tried to struggle against Natsumi's strength as she held him by his scruff.

"Don't you dare harm my new family," she growled at him, anger and conviction almost equal in her own eyes. Giroro could feel the fire in her eyes and the anger she had towards him.

She punched him through the wall. Both the lava and the fire wall disappeared as Giroro went through several cave walls.

He was flying through the dirt at a speed and force he didn't know was possible.

_She's so strong... I didn't know Natsumi Hinata would be so strong... And her wrath... She directed it at me to protect others... That's kind of... amazing. I didn't know strength like that existed. _Giroro lay in the crumbled dirt for a few moments, his body not aching as much as his heart was.

_W-what...? What am I feeling... for her? _Giroro wondered. Admiration? No... He knew he admired her in some way as soon as he had seen the pink-haired warrior. His heart ached; his heart ached so much, as if he wanted to fight her again, but not in the same way. He wanted to fight with her, not against.

He wanted to protect her warrior spirit and let her keep that anger that made her strong instead of reckless. He wanted her warrior spirit to flourish. He wanted to see more of it. He wanted to be on her side.

He wanted to be with her. That Pekoponian Natsumi Hinata.

_What's happening... Oh no... _Giroro touched his chest in the place where the virtue of Love had wounded him. The place where a bit of the Virtue had entered him.

Thoughts about Natsumi Hinata swirled through his mind - not only thoughts about fighting her, but thoughts just about her, how fierce she was, how beautiful, how strong, how great her personality was and her resolve, her courage and willpower...

_I'm in love with her... Oh god no. _Giroro clutched his heart as he imagined all of Natsumi's emotions - anger, sadness, joy, happiness, peace... He loved them all.

And for once, he wasn't angry. He just blushed as he imagined what it would have been like if he wasn't a Sin - if he had been part of Natsumi's group and with her instead.

Pulling himself out of the rocks, he climbed back through the layers of dirt to where Natsumi was, checking on Garuru.

As soon as she heard Giroro recovering, she turned around, pulling up her sleeves, ready to punch him again.

"I have to go. You win, Peko—Natsumi..." That was his good-bye to her.

But Garuru, as he lay there, heard a different good-bye as Giroro left the cave and whispered his true good-bye to Natsumi only to himself. "Good-bye, my warrior princess... I don't know what the stupid Virtue of Love made me feel, but now it's stuck inside of me thanks to you..." Then he rushed off in a fit of blush.

_Giroro... my younger brother... is in love with Natsumi? H-he... He doesn't remember me... Or anything... But he does know Natsumi... _Garuru sat up with Pururu's help as she removed the bullet from his chest. Instead of the pain, he focused on Natsumi.

_I was wrong about everything. My brother died, but he's alive again as a Sin. And I'll get him back. Even if he's a Sin I'll always love him._

_Natsumi was wrong... My brother doesn't live within Pururu or me... He lives within her. And at whatever cost I'll get him back..._

_Even if I have to use her as bait to do so._

_I might have once trusted her with my life, even maybe had some sort of emotional attachment to her, but it isn't at all close to the job that an older brother has in bringing his younger brother back to the right path._

_Natsumi is the key to unlocking that. Natsumi is the thing my brother loves and I will lure him back with her. _Garuru stared at Natsumi, no longer with interest or a small crush, but with hope. Hope that he would be able to use her to bring Giroro back.

She was no longer a person to him, but a thing, the key to bringing his brother from the dead. And Garuru wasn't ever going to forget that.

Their romance was dead and Natsumi didn't even know it. All she knew was that she had successfully punched a Sin in the face.

* * *

"Ugh..." Giroro stumbled down the stairs to the Underworld, hoping to feel like his old self just once. He felt nothing, though, as he entered the Underworld. His mind kept drifting off to the human girl with pink pigtails and how oddly alike they were, and how strong she was.

"Ku, ku, ku, you got your butt kicked, didn't you?" Kululu asked. Giroro didn't even have the strength to deny the fact.

"I... That Natsumi girl... She's strong..." he confessed, rubbing his jaw. He didn't know what he wanted - for the thoughts to be gone and to continue being a loyal soldier of the Underworld - or to continue thinking of Natsumi, and betray every value he once held dear.

_She's my enemy... I can't feel this way... This is all that Virtue's fault! _Giroro thought. But he knew that wasn't entirely true. He was the one who had fallen in love with Natsumi, of all people. He could have fallen in love with anyone else, but he chose Natsumi.

"Ku? You look sick. Oh wait, that's just how you normally look. Ku, ku, ku," Kululu laughed.

"I am feeling sick," Giroro admitted. _Lovesick... I can't stop thinking of her... Her eyes, her mouth, her hair... Her fists... Her legs... Her power... Everything. I love everything about her!_

"Sick how? We don't really have a doctor here in the Underworld so I suppose I, the genius, will have to stand in as one. Ku, ku, ku."

Giroro wondered if he should tell Kululu about the shard of Love that had gotten into him.

"I... I can't stop thinking about the Pekoponian Natsumi..." Giroro admitted, hoping Kululu had a cure. "My... My temperature is rising and my heart keeps beating faster and faster... My stomach feels queasy... Is there any cure?" he asked.

Kululu for once did not laugh. Instead he put a hand on Giroro's shoulder, looking him in the eyes.

"I know _exactly_ what's happening," he said. "And... there is no cure..."

_Crud... I was hoping that since he was so smart he would be able to see it as something other than love, and there was an actual scientific definition for it! And that he'd be able to cure it... But it's so obvious that I've fallen in love with my enemy... Even I can see that, _Giroro thought.

"You're afraid of Natsumi. What you're feeling is fear," Kululu told him. "And there is no cure. Trust me."

_Wait... what? __Even an idiot would be able to see I'm in love, but I suppose geniuses can't. Maybe the Underworld is infected with our own sin of Density? Keroro's definitely infected. Maybe he's the source._

Giroro wasn't dense, though. He knew he was in love. He thanked Kululu for trying (much to Kululu's confusion) and left.

Natsumi was quickly rising to his priorities as much as his battle with the Heavens. His wrath... the wrath that was targeted straight towards the Heavens, the wrath that grew larger and larger while he battled, was now only directed at him - that he would fall so hard for the enemy.

He wanted to fight, he wanted to hurt somebody, but he also wanted to protect... protect Natsumi from himself and the battle that the Mortal Plane had been swept into.

Natsumi had somehow used her anger to protect others. He wished he had the same strength.

Because, at that moment, his main priority was to protect the girl he had fallen in love with so hard. To watch over her and to love her.

His fantasies even showed him a world where the two of them could be together, in love and happy. He wanted her to not hate him, but feel the same for him, too.

He was experiencing the sin of Hope, a hope that he would never experience in reality, because she was his enemy. An enemy that the Lord had ordered to be killed.

An enemy that, if she died, he would grieve over more than any Virtue could grieve.

Giroro rested in his own personal room and cried, conflicted by the feelings he felt towards Natsumi, and knowing that he was doomed.


	16. Lake Cabin

**Disclaimer: Still do not own sgt frog.**

**Notes in this chapter. Originally there was going to be a smut scene, but I cut that out of the chapter for reasons of it didn't really make sense/wasn't needed.**

**Ummm...The next chapter is the Heavens again!**

* * *

"_Wrath is anger. Wrath is power. Wrath is strength. Wrath isn't admiring someone's warrior spirit. So why is it that that's what I feel?" -Giroro_

* * *

"Should we leave this place or stay?" Pururu asked. The steam and gas did cover them to hide them from potential enemies, but it also hid enemies from them.

"G-go... This place... is still dangerous..." Garuru coughed out. Although the ground had dried over the lava, there was still the threat that it would open again to the molten stuff.

The group was all rather silent from Giroro's attack. Nobody knew what to tell Garuru.

"I'm sorry that your brother became a Sin..." Natsumi tried to apologize to Garuru as Pururu checked over his and Zoruru's wounds. "I didn't even know dead people could become Sins..."

"It makes sense... The Land of Wrath came to be right after Giroro's death... Why him, though?" Pururu wondered.

"I can't believe he treated you so badly, Garuru... What a jerk—" Natsumi was cut off by Garuru's cold, heartless glare.

"Giroro is not a jerk!" His resolve was strong. "It isn't his fault... He probably became a Sin against his will!"

"B-but... he's a Sin now..." said Natsumi. "He's messing up the world we live in. It's not like he can quit being a Sin, anyway... He's a demon..."

"I wouldn't love my brother any less even if he was the Lord of Hell itself," Garuru told her. "Don't you dare call him a demon. After all... some people would say that the way you fight and the fact that you have longer legs makes you like a demon, too."

_Did he just imply that I'm a demon because I'm taller than him and have longer legs that help me kick things and jump? _Natsumi was trying to process such a petty insult.

Pururu threw her arms over Garuru, hugging him from behind to try to calm him down. Wrath had gotten into his system more than just the fact that it was his brother.

Garuru was now becoming distant from Natsumi, and she didn't know why. _I even mentally gave them my blessing, _Pururu thought. _What happened that suddenly made Garuru so...Disinterested in her?_

"I'm happy that Giroro's alive, too." She tried to distract Garuru from yelling at Natsumi.

Garuru turned to her. "I know. You would be. He was your friend."

"So... That was your brother?" Tororo still didn't seem to understand how a Sin could be their leader's brother.

Garuru nodded.

"Um..." Chiroro's nervous voice squeaked, hoping not to get the blunt of Garuru's anger. "I'm sorry to steer the conversation off of Wra - Giroro... But did we ever decide where we were going if we aren't staying here right now?"

"Yes. We're going to the Kingdom of Wrath," Garuru suggested. "It's close - all the Sins' lands border it, it being the newest and the middle of the world. And since it's the newest, it's probably the least dangerous, and we'll be able to seek answers." Everybody could tell Garuru was just thinking about Giroro and the chance to see him again.

Natsumi sighed. "All right, I suppose... to Wrath's kingdom it is."

Garuru might be right about it being the safest. She didn't know much about the place. And if it was anything like the Sin itself, she could take it. _If I see that Giroro again and he tries to hurt me, I'll just punch him. I can handle him pretty well, after all. _Natsumi felt a bit proud that she had punched a Sin in the face. It was time to cross that off her bucket list.

Everybody seemed fine with heading to Wrath's kingdom, except Pururu, who didn't speak up or say anything.

_For so long, he's thought Giroro was dead... He saw me as his only tie to Giroro's life, and I know that, but... Now that Giroro's suddenly alive, will Garuru stop caring about everything except him? Will... Will he lose himself to his own obsession about his brother? I'm worried about him... I'm fine if he no longer likes Natsumi, but this is odd that he changed his feelings about her so quickly... What is he planning? _she wondered. For so long it had been just Garuru and her. For the longest time in forever, Garuru had protected her. She wanted to help him now and return the favor. She wanted to save him from whatever monster he might become to meet Giroro again.

_Garuru... I love you, so I'm going to play along for now. But whenever you start going along the wrong path, I'll fight you. I'll bring you back. I promise. He's a Sin, not you. I'll protect you, _Pururu vowed to herself.

Helping everybody up, Pururu listened to Tororo map out the direction where they were going.

Soon enough the group was ready and off.

* * *

They were at the outskirts of the Land of Envy; luckily, all they had to do was head south to get to the Land of Wrath, since Wrath was in the middle of all the kingdoms.

It was a long way though. Natsumi trudged on and on, Garuru and she not talking at all anymore.

_Is our romance dead? But... why? _Natsumi wondered. She tried not to listen to Tororo and Chiroro constantly chatting and making childish passes at each other. _That used to be me and Garuru... How did anyone stand that? That must have been so annoying to listen to! _Natsumi covered her ears and glanced at Zoruru who had been the one to try to shut Garuru and her up.

Surprisingly he was just acting as Tororo's wingman and giving him brief thumbs-ups, sometimes even speaking to Tororo on his own and suggesting awful things like to "drop a dead squirrel at Chiroro's feet to impress her and show that you could kill something."

_I guess my first romance died being suffocated... Maybe I just acted too close to Garuru... Why am I even focusing on romance, anyway? I should be focusing on more important things, like surviving... But I always did kind of want a nice, normal life, my only worries being trying to stop boys fighting over me because I already had a wonderfully successful boyfriend... I guess I'm kind of a child too, like Tororo... Or at least, my former views on the world were childish... like... even though my body is mature I guess my brain wasn't? _Natsumi sighed, disgusted by herself. _All right! To get over it I'm going to focus on other things that I like besides romance: I like sweet potatoes... Mmmm... But I haven't had them in so long... Actually the last time I had them was when my whole family was together... I like fighting, I guess... It's kind of fun. I like being with friends and people I trust, and I like punching Sins in the_ _face._ Natsumi smiled to herself._ I will never forget that moment._

Thinking back, Giroro kind of did remind her of his older brother. But in a way, she hadn't thought of him before, even though he prided himself so greatly on it - being a brother. It reminded her of her brother, Fuyuki, who had also died. What would she do if Fuyuki had become a Sin?

_I would still love him, right? s_he thought to herself. _Yeah... I would._ Even if Fuyuki was the Sin of Lust or Pride, Sloth or Greed, Gluttony or Envy, she'd still love him all the same. _I guess that's kind of like how Giroro or Garuru are... I wonder... if Giroro ever felt the same brotherly love for Garuru at one point... If he admired him, and lost all of that when he became a Sin... Lost all of his entire family._

_Garuru has his memories, but Giroro's lost everything..._

_I feel kind of sorry for him... _Natsumi realized. _Being a sin must feel hard... He must feel only anger all the time... _It was hard to change her views of the Sins, knowing that at one point they had all had lives and people who loved them. At some point they had all been mortal with real feelings that could no longer be accessed.

_He doesn't feel anger all the time, though... I can tell... When I punched him and beat him, he came back from the cavern walls, admiring me and acknowledging my strength. He left because he lost, and that was almost honorable. _Natsumi was cut off from her own thoughts about Giroro, and perhaps hoping there was more to him than sin, by Tororo.

"I have to go leave and do a thing. Pu, pu, pu. Wait here." Tororo ordered. Garuru frowned because Tororo ran off before he could scold him.

"We're still in danger. He can't just leave and run off... We're in the Land of Envy. What will happen if another of those Devourers attack?" said Garuru.

"I'll look after him," Zoruru promised, jumping off to watch Tororo and make sure he didn't hurt himself.

Garuru impatiently waited for both of them to return.

"Hey... Look, a lake!" Chiroro pointed to a lake in the near distance. Curious, the group approached the lake.

"An acid lake..." Garuru spat the words with venom, not looking at the green reflected surface. "Pururu... I mean, everybody... try not to get close... You could slip in."

Natsumi saw something beyond the acid lake - the white-haired boy who had helped them so much was sitting on the ground with a fishing pole, fishing for... well... nothing.

"Hey!" Natsumi waved down the attractive stranger. The white-haired boy noticed her and smiled. He stood up and approached them.

Garuru took a defensive stance.

"It's all right..." Natsumi assured. "He's helped me before. He told me how to escape the hill from the acid flood and how to defeat the Devourers."

"I did?" the white-haired boy asked; he then uttered another mystical bit of advice. "You can't catch any fish without bait. You may be the fishing pole, but you'll never do anything without your worm." Either he was uttering complete nonsense that he had put together on the spot just to sound poetic, or this kid was on to something.

"He makes sense. He can stay." Garuru relaxed, thinking about how the white-haired human boy had completely figured out Garuru's plan for Natsumi - to use her as bait to get his brother back. Garuru was fearful of the boy's mind-reading powers, but also awe-inspired.

"Uhhhh..." The white-haired boy gave a quick laugh, "Really? Cuz I was just kind of making stuff up on the fly. I fashion myself as a poet, after all."

"Wait... So the advice you gave me about the hill and kindness... were accidental?" Natsumi looked shocked.

"Uhhh... Totally not," the white-haired boy denied. Natsumi felt more relieved knowing that she hadn't relied on nonsense to save their lives.

"Who are you? Where do you come from?" Natsumi finally asked, the mystery of this white haired stranger absorbing her. _Is this guy single? Maybe he's the chance I have at my first romance... Maybe he's my "fated one!" _Natsumi was excited, but then calmed herself. _I'm not going to think like that anymore, remember? Every boy I meet isn't my potential future husband. And I have more important things to think about than my childish fantasies._

"I'm Mutsumi Hojo. But you can just call me Saburo." Saburo smiled.

"Why? That doesn't make any sense..." said Chiroro.

"Because someday I'm going to be famous and I'll have to live under a new name," Saburo explained. "I'm going to be a famous poet... journeying throughout the land, gathering stories and poetry, and just being on my own, aligned to nothing, not this Mortal Plane, not this stupid battle between Heaven and Hell, not anything but me. Sure, maybe I'll address some of the problems Heaven and Hell experience, and us, of course... but I don't have any particular stance on anything."

"You're a mortal just like us; why don't you feel anger towards the Underworld and the Sins and what they've done to our lives and the world?" Pururu asked in confusion. "Why aren't you running for your life, or feeling lost because you've lost your friends and family?"

"Eh." Saburo shrugged, "Maybe because I don't feel that in danger. If you know enough about the world and what each monster is looking for to attack, you can avoid things pretty easily. That, and I'm a loner so I don't really have any friends or familyto feel hurt by the loss of...The world's been like this forever; why feel anger towards it?"

"Because we want to change things," said Natsumi sternly. "I'm done with being a useless pawn in a battle between two supernatural forces. I deserve to feel anger toward what's taken so much from me."

"I suppose that's you," Saburo shrugged. "My stance is to stay out of politics, though, and I've had a pretty fun life. I travel the world, meeting new people everyday, doodling some pictures, and giving them poetry that changes their life, just like how my poetry changes yours."

"Your poetry changed my life because I thought you were offering us advice on how to survive! Not saying something to lighten our spirits!" Natsumi complained. Saburo shrugged again.

"It worked, though. Can't complain about that," he hummed. "Anyway, I've noticed that dis-attaching myself from mortals and not identifying with them keeps the Sins' influence and the Virtues alike from me. If neither of them try to influence me with their powers, I'm safe from both of them, because they aren't fighting over me. Smart, huh?"

Natsumi didn't want to admit that it was indeed smart.

"So you're like a traveling bard. And you've survived quite a long time on your own, correct?" said Garuru.

"Yeah. And I was on my own, so don't give me any gross invitations to join your group or something... I've had those before and they were awkward to turn down." Saburo shrugged. "The people I rejected also got quite mad. Suppose that was the sin of Wrath's influence."

"I wouldn't dream of inviting you to join us. I've met travelers like you before. I was only thinking of inviting you to join us for a night so we could perhaps share information. After all, wasn't one of your goals to share your stories?" Garuru asked, knowing it was in his best interest to get as much information as possible from this stranger.

Saburo fell for it.

"I can stay for a night... I suppose that would be fun. I have a cabin right over there on the other side of the lake, so we can stay there..." Saburo suggested. "But only for a night. It looks like it would be in your best interest to rest up..." Saburo glanced at the bullet wound on Garuru's chest.

"How did you get a cabin?" Chiroro asked curiously.

"Some Devourers got the family before me. I saw it happen and took the place they stayed. It was pretty secure," he said.

"So much for being free of the Sins' influence..." Natsumi muttered.

"Oh, no, that isn't the Sins' influence, that's just practicality and common sense. Which is just from me," Saburo explained. Natsumi didn't know how to take that, and she frowned. Saburo's attitude may have been what had gotten him to survive so long, but she didn't like it.

The group headed to Saburo's cabin and waited for Tororo and Zoruru to return.

* * *

Tororo dropped a dead squirrel at Chiroro's feet.

"I-I... I got this for you..." he told her, blushing.

"Um..." Chiroro really didn't know how to feel about the gift. It was weird. Zoruru gave him a thumbs-up, being the most ill-informed wingman in history.

"We met up with some strange poet and now we're staying the night in his place... It'll give Garuru and Zoruru some time to rest up," she explained.

Nobody had still gotten any information on why Zoruru was half-metal, but they were also too afraid to ask. Chiroro believed he had just always been half-metal.

Zoruru sat down curiously as Saburo sat in the middle of the group, smiling at them.

_I wonder when I should strike and kill Natsumi... Wrath's test I might have failed due to his strength, but Natsumi didn't... meaning she'll be strong... But with the proper amount of stealth, I'm sure I can assassinate her... I'll do it tomorrow when nobody suspects_, Zoruru decided.

Saburo handed everybody some food. "It was the other family's and I'm not carrying it on my travels." He let everybody settle in to listen to his stories.

"Tell us... about the sin of Wrath... What do you know about him?" Garuru asked, trying to get as much information as possible about his brother out of Saburo.

"Hmmm... I can make something up for you if you want. I mean, I've never really met any of the Sins..." He thought for a moment. "Been to the Land of Wrath once, though."

"What's it like?" Garuru asked.

"Hot... Dangerous... Filled with volcanoes and lava." He chuckled. "If you're going there for safety, you won't find it."

Garuru frowned. "There's always a chance that the monsters are less dangerous."

"I suppose so. I've never encountered them, but I've heard they're only mindless mechanisms of destruction," he said.

"They're called the Destroyers, I think..." Natsumi tried to remember. "Fuyuki told me about them... They're like guardians of the Land of Wrath, and ar rock golems..."

"Yeah, let's go with that," Saburo responded. "If you want to hear about my favorite land, it would probably be the Land of Pride... It's got jungle everywhere... Those plants are in constant competition with each other. And the lightning storms might be dangerous, but they're pretty... The monsters, though? Awful scary. That's why I left."

Garuru took in the information carefully.

"How 'bout I talk about something way more interesting than geography? Anybody up for some folklore? I got lots of that... The story about a princess whose people tore her apart with greed... Um... Oh, I got a good one! How about the story about the Heavenly King helping someone?"

Garuru couldn't speak up fast enough against it - he had heard all these stories before and they were all pretty dull.

"Anyway, the Heavenly King believed that one of us mortals was to become a Sin one day... It was in a land long ago... So he decided that he'd befriend this sin-to-be and show him a virtuous lifestyle to prevent him from becoming a Sin. However, their friendship was more of a take than a give, and the sin-to-be exploited things and used the Heavenly King's power to help him out, only to get in trouble for something the Heavenly King stole. After blaming it on the Heavenly King, the Heavenly King felt betrayed and cursed his friend to be a Sin and watched on as the Sin was murdered," he told.

"That one's a stupid story," Natsumi complained. "I've heard that one before, and it's so inaccurate. I don't think the Heavenly King would do something so wicked."

"I suppose the Heavenly King just makes a lot of mistakes..." Zoruru seemed the most interested in that story, his one eye glowing in delight at hearing of the Heavenly King's error. _Pity that he didn't learn his lesson... _Zoruru thought to himself.

"Uhhh... Well, then, if I'm so bad at telling stories, why don't one of you try? I'd love to learn about where you're all from... Like for example why _you're_ made out of metal." He pointed at Zoruru, bringing up a subject that everybody was trying to avoid. He stood up to search the cabinets for more fun while Zoruru spoke.

"A mistake happened. That's what," Zoruru said.

"You are the worst story-teller _ever_. Hands down." Saburo smiled after retrieving some grade-A alcohol. "Anybody want some of this? It really helps with parties... Cheers people up from heartache, anything..."

"I'll take some." Pururu raised her hand, knowing that she wouldn't find another chance to have any alcohol and have a good time. "You want some, Garuru?"

"..." Garuru frowned. "The last time I had any alcohol, my father offered some to my brother and me... I took it and handled it well, and Giroro got jealous and insisted that he could handle his alcohol as well as me... He couldn't take one single drop without collapsing..." Garuru smiled at the nostalgic memory and took a glass.

"I guess now I know the sin of Wra-" Natsumi shut up as Garuru glared at her. He must not have wanted the secret about Giroro to be shared with Saburo. "Giroro's weakness," she corrected. _Damn. That's pretty cute. Goddamn the images of child Wrath insisting he can do things he can't dancing through my head. I'll never be able to get this out!_

"I'll take some!" Tororo got handed a glass of alcohol too. Being younger than the rest, Saburo insisted that he only have half his glass and share the rest with Chiroro, who also wanted some.

"I can't drink..." Zoruru insisted. "I have no mouth..."

"I don't really feel like getting drunk." Natsumi just stuck by her own morals.

"More for me than." Saburo decided, gulping some liquid down. "You know... I picked up what you said about Wrath. He's your brother? But how? That must be a pretty interesting story..."

While everybody got drunk, Saburo waited for Garuru to speak. Garuru eventually did, giving in.

"My brother... died a long time ago... He was still a tadpole when he died. At the time it was just Dad, Giroro, and me. We lived in the land of Greed... by an acid dam. Others were too scared to live there, but our family banded together with other Keronian families... a bit like a neighborhood.

"Scavengers never went there due to the acid dam. Dad believed it was the thing that would save us... He was wrong.

"Giroro was outside that day, training his aim. I usually helped him with a gun. He always called me 'big bro' and looked up to me; he still had much to improve. He was mad that day, though, and wanted to be alone. Mom had just left... Well, at least that's what we told Giroro, that she had to go away forever.

"Back then, there were only six sins... Wrath didn't exist as a sin, but it still resided in some lives. Mom... Mom was one of those lives... If any mortal should have become Wrath, it was her. She was always so mad at Giroro. So tough on him to strengthen up and stop looking up to others. I suppose that's where he learned to have such a hot temper and enjoy fighting Scavengers with me when we did go out for food.

"He was sad, of course, when Mom left... thought it was his fault. Really, we cast her out. Probably got eaten by Scavengers on her own. I don't know. I don't care.

"He was playing alone in the sand that day when the dam broke... Trying to get stronger, better. It was my fault. The previous day I was trying to cheer him up from almost getting nabbed by some Scavengers that we had attacked with some others to try to steal their supplies. I was cheering him up by helping his aim and demonstrated, accidentally hitting the dam. I didn't know it did anything until it completely broke while he was out.

"Dad told me he'd get Giroro... Told me to get to safety up hill. I did as was told trusting Dad. When I got uphill, I saw that only one other Keronian was with me. Pururu. The hill was so small that we both realized too late that we had been sent up there to be the only safe ones. Everybody else drowned. We were the only two left.

"Dad knew that he couldn't save Giroro; he just didn't want me to be lost too... But I... I could have tried to save Giroro... But I didn't...

"He died and somehow became the sin of Wrath afterwards. Grew up in the Underworld instead of by my side..." Garuru finished. Pururu squeezed his hand to try to keep him from crying.

"Wow," was all Saburo could say. He took an even bigger glass of alcohol. "Um... Do you all have real-life downer stories?"

They all nodded.

"Wait till you hear my back story—Pu, pu, pu," Tororo piped up. But he was quickly shut up. His back story wasn't that important.

"Okay. I got one. I got a story. This one a lot of people don't know. It's only a sort of fantasy folklore told about on old murals that I've seen," Saburo explained. Everybody listened to this one, hoping to forget Garuru's tale.

"Once upon a time there was a lonely girl. The girl was descended from beings with great power. She could even fly! She was sent down by her family to a land that was quite different from her own. I don't know why she was sent to the land; it was kind of lost in the mural.

"In this land she met people that made her feel less lonely than she was, met people who gave her a home and did fun things everyday. She even met someone she fell in love with.

"One day other people came for her new home from across the land. They feared some of her friends' power because her friends wanted to take over the land she had been sent to.

"Her friends assured the other people that they weren't scary and that the only one who could possibly be scary was the girl's lover. They blamed someone else for their faults.

"The other people killed the girl's lover and there was a big battle and everybody died except the girl.

"The girl was alone once again. Due to her power, though, she was able to fly away and leave. And so she did.

"But she didn't leave to find a new home; instead she searched out help. The girl found a demon eventually who was dying.

" 'What is it you desire?' the demon asked the girl as she hovered before him, letting his black giant demon claws clutch her body.

" 'I want to see my lover again. He was killed,' the girl begged.

" 'Many people come to see me for wishes, you know, and I always take their souls in return. But you... You have the power to do more than bring one person back... You are different..." the demon told the girl.

" 'I don't care if it costs me my soul. I don't care if it costs me my heart. I would do anything to bring him back,' the girl replied. The demon looked in her eyes and saw potential.

" 'I am dying. I do not have the power to grant your wish,' the demon told her in their loud, deep voice. 'However, you do. You have the power to recreate everything... To rule everything if you so desire. Give me your soul, your heart, your joy, your emotions, let me see your happiest memories, let me invade them and make them mine and I will make a contract with you to hand you my power... Power along with yours that would make you vastly powerful.'

" 'I am willing. I will do anything to bring him back," the lonely girl vowed in an almost naive way. The demon ate her heart, her soul - and died, completing the contract and handing her its powers.

"The lonely girl was now not who she was, instead powerful and solemn. But she had a job to do.

"She brought her lover back from the dead to be reunited with him. It took a long time to bring him back but she finally did, waiting ever-so-patiently for him.

"However, when he was brought back, something was wrong. The memories that the two had shared were gone, and he was incapable of loving her, just as she was incapable of feeling many of her outward emotions. Instead, her lover felt no deep loyalty or connection to her.

"The demon had swindled her, giving people their wishes, but with certain limits.

"And she was alone. The lonely girl stayed lonely forever." Saburo ended his story.

"Th-that was also a terrible story!" Natsumi complained. "Not only was it very unbelievable, but it was also sad..."

"Want me to tell a different story, then?" Saburo asked. Natsumi shook her head, done with stories. "I'll tell a story for all the adults in this room then..." Saburo had gotten quite drunk.

Natsumi didn't know what she was getting in to when Saburo opened his mouth.

* * *

"And the two, having finally experienced the forbidden pleasure of the adult world, finished their sexual romp and parted ways..." Saburo finished his very naughty tale that he had told in a drunken stupor.

Natsumi's face was as beet red as everybody else was, except Zoruru.

"I enjoy watching drunk people make a fool out of themselves. I suppose I'll get quite used to it," Zoruru explained when asked why he wasn't blushing.

"Maybe... Maybe Saburo's a bit tired out..." Natsumi decided, seeing Saburo about to collapse.

"And we're all going to die and stop existing someday. And life is a big convenient lie!" Saburo fell immediately asleep on the floor to let everybody try not to reflect too much on what he said.

"Let's not ask him anything more..." Natsumi suggested.

"I agree," Garuru responded - slightly drunk, but not so much as Pururu, Tororo, and Chiroro. Pururu had fallen asleep, curled up in a little ball.

"Was... Was that story that Saburo said really true? And accurate?" Tororo asked Zoruru.

"That isn't important. It's best for you to get to bed. There looks to be a room over there..." Zoruru pointed with his only hand that had any flesh on it. Tororo nodded - and hurried off with Chiroro.

Zoruru looked very concerned and disgusted, wishing he could frown. He didn't know weather to stop it or not.

_Maybe I should go murder Natsumi now to distract myself from whatever is happening in the room Tororo is in,_ Zoruru decided.

Garuru took Natsumi's hand to take her outside before he could.

"I need to talk to you," he requested, slightly drunk.

"All right," Natsumi agreed.

* * *

Tororo sat on top of a bed, just as drunk as Chiroro was.

"So... Want to do it? Do that adult thing that Saburo described? I mean... I really like you and wouldn't it be fun - " Tororo was infected with the sin of Lust, not even realizing that might not be a very responsible idea.

"I don't want to die. Not like Karara did," Chiroro sniffed cutting him off as she remembered Saburo's last lines.

"You're not going to die like Karara did," Tororo promised. "It's all right..." He hugged her.

"I do... I do want to do adult things with you, though. Before we die, I want to remember being with you..."

"Really?" Tororo was excited.

"Yeah. I wanna make out with your stupid face." Chiroro launched herself at Tororo's face and kissed it, slipping a few times due to drunken coordination. Tororo let her push him on the bed and make out with him, sticking her tongue all over his face, even though sometimes it felt like dog kisses.

Eventually, she got it right, and they both got their tongues into each other's mouths, opposed to cheeks, or eyes.

They made out for quite a few minutes of the most awkward make-out session ever, trying to desperately figure out how to do anything remotely sexy, such as grinding against each other, kissing, or just embracing.

Eventually they stopped awkwardly making out in favor of sleep.

"Wuv you, Tororo..." Chiroro slurred. "Making out with your face was fun."

"Yeah. It was fun for me too," Tororo agreed, curling up and sleeping along with her.

* * *

Garuru took Natsumi outside. The sky was dark - some stars out, but not many, as was normal. Maybe the numbers were dwindling. Who knew.

"Natsumi... Do you ever feel... lucky?" Garuru asked her.

"Sometimes," she admitted. "I know that lasting this long wasn't my luck, but my skill."

"Do you think Giroro is watching right now?" Garuru asked.

"He might be... I'm still trying to figure out why he attacked us in the first place. He said he was testing us, but why us? I've never heard of a Sin directly attacking someone on our plane."

Garuru nodded and pulled her down to his eye level.

"He's not watching me... You are wrong," he told her.

"I'm sorry," she apologized.

"But... he might be watching _you._"

"W-what do you mean?" Natsumi asked. Garuru didn't answer and instead took his hand off of her hand and hit her, hard.

"Ow!" Natsumi rubbed her cheek from the force of the impact, standing up and looking at Garuru with anger and confusion. "What was that for?"

Garuru didn't answer and instead stood silently, as if waiting and listening.

"You were in danger... from me..." Garuru said.

"I know. Why? That is unacceptable behavior. If you try to treat me like that one more time I'm fighting back and I will defend myself with all my strength," Natsumi vowed, cracking her knuckles. Her feelings for Garuru were officially over. _The guy's a jerk. I don't care if he's drunk he's not allowed to hit me. _She waited for Garuru's answer.

"Why... Why isn't he coming?"

Garuru seemed sorrowful. Natsumi didn't get what he was saying. Turning around, she went back into the cabin, leaving Garuru on his own.

Pururu watched from the cabin doorway, having woken up as soon as Garuru had taken Natsumi outside and began talking to her.

_Garuru... _She was more and more worried for him. What had he been planning with that punch? Why did he do such a thing? She didn't understand.

What was happening to Garuru, and what would he continue to do for his brother?


	17. Journey

**Yo! Added a lot more content to this chapter that wasn't in my original summary.**

**Disclaimer: Still own nothing.**

**Notes/Notes?**

**Ah, I bet it's time to remind you all which virtue/sin is which.**

**Keroro: Greed/Sloth**

**Tamama: Envy/Gluttony**

**Kululu: Pride/Lust**

**Giroro: Wrath**

**Fuyuki: Chastity, Temperance, and humility**

**Momoka: Charity and love**

**Aki: Diligence and motherhood (? It was useful in my original chapter summary, but has since been changed and I'm just like what is it's point now. Maybe I made it to not make her feel inadequete compared to everybody else having 2 to 3 traits. Except Giroro I guess. He's just a sucker and on his own.)**

**Koyuki: Kindness and Patience. (I've heard sometimes that the virtue for Patience is also forgiveness, but I'm not sure the official stance?)**

**Dororo: Heavenly King. He's in charge of everything good. **

**Your memory has now been jogged.**

* * *

"_Survival is important. But not losing our humanity and being close to our friends and family is important, too." -Natsumi_

* * *

"So... I think if we target one kingdom, we can perhaps make things better in the world. If we use all our powers, I think we can make one of the kingdoms that the Sins inhabit grow flowers!" Dororo suggested happily, having his own meeting with his Virtues. No ideas were bad ideas in their meetings, and all questions were smart ones. He also tried to encourage his Virtues as much as he possibly could.

Momoka's hair pointed in anger as she snapped at him. "We already did that once, Dororo! It's pointless to try that again."

The sweet Virtue that she once had been was now snapping more and more. A newer darker Momoka inhabited her.

"Yes, but it might work..." he stuttered out.

"No. No it won't." Momoka smacked Dororo's idea down, even though he was the ruler of the Virtues. "We've tried that before. We targeted the Kingdom of Sloth and used all our combined powers to make flowers grow all over the kingdom." As she spoke, Momoka got closer and closer as if she was about to rip Dororo apart." We were all out of commission for a year because it was so tough. And the Sins took so many lives... Not only that, but the flowers we grew combined with the land of Sin itself and emitted poisonous gas that made anyone who breathed in sleep forever! Remember?"

"Y-yes, I remember..." Dororo squeaked out, "B-but... They were so pretty! It wasn't _all_ pointless."

"I made a flower crown with them. They were harmless once picked," Koyuki pointed out, as if that made poisonous flowers any better.

Momoka looked like she was about to claw at Dororo in her wrathful anger. "People died. It was pointless."

"Momoka!" Fuyuki's call snapped her out of her trance.

"Fuyuki!" She called back and threw herself into his arms. She began sobbing in fear of the monster she was becoming.

"It's happening more and more frequently..." he noticed. Momoka pushed herself out of Fuyuki's arms.

"I-I'm sorry... I have to go..." In a stream of tears, she ran off to her room to lock herself away for the safety of everyone else.

"I'm scared for her... I may be the God of this entire world, but even I do not know what's happening to her..." Dororo especially seemed irritated at his lack of answers. "I don't want one of my Virtues to change into Wrath. I didn't know the Sins could do that...Put a piece of them into somebody else... I should know these things. I created the Virtues, after all..." he stuttered out.

Dororo looked at Fuyuki mournfully. "I'm so sorry, Fuyuki, for not being better able to help. I'm supposed to be your leader, somebody to aid and guide you. But when it comes to what's happening to Momoka I'm just as lost as you are."

"It's all right, Dororo. It wasn't your fault." Fuyuki didn't know if he could fully apologize on Momoka;s behalf. "I'm just wondering..." he said, remembering the battle, "if Momoka got a piece of Wrath in her, do you think it's possible that Wrath got a piece of her in him?"

"It might be possible... But what are you suggesting? That Wrath is somehow charitable and giving things away to help people now? Or that he's gotten a piece of Love inside of him... Acting up just as randomly as Momoka's piece of Wrath?"

"I'm suggesting that might be possible" he said. "We don't know if he did it purposefully, after all."

"I wish I could ask him myself, but even I can't get to the Underworld," Dororo admitted. "I'm the god of all above here, but the Lord of the Underworld rules her terrain below me, and although her soldiers have been able to get up here, I've never been able to get down there..."

"What about your soldiers - we, the Virtues?" said Fuyuki. "If she was able to send her soldiers up here, isn't is at least a little plausible that you can send your soldiers down there?"

"I... I don't know. I've never tried. I don't want any of you Virtues getting hurt or being in such an awful place," Dororo told him. "Anyway, I also don't know where the entrance is."

"Let me at least try. I will go to the Underworld and find Wrath. I will try to get him to take the piece of Wrath he put in Momoka out... And if he didn't purposefully put it in there, then I'll try to persuade him to help," Fuyuki suggested.

"No, it's too dangerous for you to go to the Underworld," Dororo begged. "You won't be able to survive there - even my powers can't protect you."

"I have to try, though. For Momoka. She's helped me so much and she's so nice. I... I don't want her to be hurt any longer."

"At least take another virtue with you," Dororo asked of him. "...What about your Mom?"

"We both know that's not a good idea with the whole Lust thing going on," Fuyuki reminded him. "And I doubt you want Koyuki in such danger."

"Indeed. And what do you mean, persuade Wrath to help? I don't think anyone can persuade a Sin to help us," Dororo pointed out.

"I'm going to try, anyway. He responds to violence with anger, so I'm going to try offering peace. We won't know if we can't try to befriend the Sins while they're Sins until we try," he said. "And I'm going to try."

"Wh-what about how I don't know how to get there? What will you do facing that obstacle?" said Dororo.

Fuyuki narrowed his eyes, thinking. "Koyuki already gave me a clue on where the entrance was. It was in Tamama's story of how he became a Sin. He wandered the lands of Greed until he found an entrance. I'm going to try the same thing."

Dororo nodded. "If you really think this is a good idea, I will let you. But I must warn you to be careful. What you're doing no other Virtue has ever tried to do."

"I know. And don't worry. I'll survive. I'm a Virtue - we've fought the Sins before and they've survived when they were up here."

"But... it's not the sins I'm worried about," said Dororo. "It's the Lord herself... I've never actually... seen her after this whole war thing started. I saw her a few times in the very beginning, but... I don't know how strong prone to violence she is."

"I'll stay safe. And I will succeed... for Momoka." Fuyuki bowed as if he was making an official vow and promise and going off on a brave quest. And with that, he descended upon the Mortal Plane to journey around the land of Greed, his old home.

* * *

Fuyuki searched long and hard for an entrance to the Underworld, flying above everything very quickly, since he was using his Virtue powers.

He didn't find much. It wasn't like a giant door was laying around.

"Maybe praying will help..." he decided. "That's what Tamama did in the story." Landing in the exact middle of the Kingdom of Greed, Fuyuki stood wordlessly, putting his hands together.

"Please... Underworld..." he prayed. Nothing happened. Fuyuki frowned. Maybe a different sort of prayer? "I wish with all my heart..." Still, nothing happened.

He tried a few more prayers as the hours went by. His tongue became hot and dry in the sandy air as he continued to speak frantically and with very little to go off of.

"At whatever cost, I'll try to find you. I'm willing to give up everything if it's to help my friend," he said, although he hoped it wouldn't come to that.

Suddenly, he felt the ground harden below him. Harden into rock.

A sandstorm brewed around him, circling the area he was in.

"Wh-what?" He looked up and a giant door rose from the ground, two iron knockers hanging from its rusty stone.

Words in blood upon its large body read: A_re you willing to give up everything for a small slimmer of hope?_

Fuyuki smiled.

"Yes. Yes I am, if it comes to it." Grabbing the knocker, he pounded on the door, hoping they would open mystically on their own, or that Wrath was the door keeper, or something.

Sure enough, the doors opened on their own as Fuyuki knocked on them.

"All right... Here I go, I guess..." Fuyuki entered and the doors closed behind him.

* * *

The hallway was dark, and Fuyuki could feel stairs below stretching hundreds off feet into the abyss below himself. He saw various souls floating around him as he descended into the Underworld.

_Is this where all the souls that have sinned go after they die? _he wondered. The souls hissed as they saw him, disappearing into walls and portraits that detailed some of their lives.

Fuyuki finally got to the bottom and entered, facing a new set of doors that were his last obstacle until he arrived in the Underworld that the Sins inhabited.

_Knock to be judged to enter the Underworld._

_But I won't be judged correctly... I'm a Virtue and won't have what's necessary to become a Sin, _he thought to himself, wondering if there were some secret words he could say to instruct the door to open on its own, instead of having to knock.

Remembering the previous words he spoke, he uttered, "I will never give up hope..." The doors did not open for him, though.

_Usually there's some sort of clue or password for these things. That's how they're supposed to work... But I suppose usually people are supposed to knock... _he thought to himself. Call it a hunch, but he felt there was some sort of pass code.

He tried again. "I have given up hope!" Nothing happened. "I am willing to give myself up?" Still nothing. Looking around the dark hallway only illuminated by blue candlelight, Fuyuki looked at the portraits.

Each one read the same thing at the bottom in small words - regret.

Fuyuki spoke the next guess quietly. "Hope is my biggest regret."

The doors eased open for him, letting him enter Hell.

He carefully stepped in, looking around and hoping he was being quiet enough. A throne of bones stood at the end of the entrance to the doors.

_This must be the throne room... But where is Wrath? _he wondered. He walked in and began looking around.

There were two doorways on each side of the throne room, each with a symbol above each.

_So this place doesn't move around to suit them... _Fuyuki tried to hide his interest and child-like glee at exploring someplace so new. He tip-toed around and entered the first doorway, the doorway with the symbol of a star.

Within, he heard the high-pitch whining of a voice and stuch himself against the wall, hoping that whoever was talking wouldn't notice him as he crept past.

"I hate doing all these chores. The Underworld doesn't even need to be cleaned. I swear the Lord is just working me because she has some sort of personal grudge. But what did I do wrong?"

"Maybe it was the time you walked in on Pride and her and didn't leave?" an even higher-pitched voice suggested.

"I was too lazy, too. I am the sin of Sloth, after all. But... That was painful... Thanks for reminding me about that grossness."

Fuyuki peered past a corner to see who was talking - a green Keronian with a star insignia spoke to a younger-looking navy-blue Keronian.

"Do you think Giroro did well in his mission?" the navy blue Keronian asked.

"I don't know. Don't care. Personally this whole battle with the Heavens is too much work for me. I'd much rather just sit down and play with my Gundam models." Fuyuki knew that the Sin that was talking must have been Sloth.

"Mr. Keroro! Don't let anybody hear you say that. You'll get in tons of trouble! And anyway, there's nothing really wrong with attacking the Heavens... After all, I heard that they steal all the sweats and hoard it for themselves. Horrible, isn't it?" the navy blue Keronian told.

Fuyuki watched the two just sort of talk about childish things. _They're just sort of playing... I don't think they're doing anything incredibly evil... _he thought. _Giroro...That's who I'm looking for though._Sneaking past the very easily distracted Keronians, he entered another group of rooms.

_This place is like a maze... _he entered a new room randomly of his choice.

"Imprisoned in the Underworld unable to get out. I can't believe it! Ku, ku, ku."

On the ground, tinkering with a few inventions, Fuyuki saw the worst Sin sitting and muttering complaints to himself. He noticed a chain strapped around the Sin's ankle, imprisoning him on the ground.

_So, wait... He didn't ditch Mom... He was imprisoned here? Should... Should I tell Mom about this? _he thought, remembering his mother's happiness and how in love she seemed with Pride.

"And worst of all, the Lord won't even sleep with me! She's still slightly mad, I guess, about how I almost slept with a Virtue... So she's denying me sex which doesn't help my condition at all and she knows it!" he murmured in anger.

_Maybe not. Best to keep this to myself, _Fuyuki decided.

"She_ knows_ I'm going straight to her when this week is over. That's why she's doing this, that jerk! I love being the sin of Lust, but I also hate it... Can't be satisfied with anything, ever, yet great sex-god-like powers... Ku, how annoying."

Since he was complaining so loudly, Fuyuki was able to sneak past him, albeit awkwardly. He went into the next room, which happened to be filled with weaponry - guns, to be specific.

The door behind him vanished.

_I guess the Underworld does change layout just like the Heavens... _Fuyuki thought. He scanned the room for Giroro.

Giroro sat in the middle of the room, desperately polishing a gun.

Fuyuki didn't know why he was doing such a thing. He would have liked to think there was some sort of secret about the Sins or some hugely cool reason for it. He didn't ask, though - and instead called, "Giroro!"

Giroro perked up and looked around. Spotting Fuyuki, he darted up, holding his gun and pointing it at the boy.

"Finally, one of the Virtues actually _attacks_ this place. You have guts, boy, but I think you'll regret this - "

Fuyuki cut him off. "I didn't come to attack. I came to see you, Giroro."

"What, why?" Giroro dropped his gun. "Wait... You Virtues can see everything that happens on the Mortal Plane from your creepy cloud things, right?" he said. "So... Wait, did you see...? YOU HAVE THINGS WRONG!" He began to shake his head visciously in denial.

"What?" Fuyuki gave a light chuckle. "No, I came to you to talk about Momoka."

"The Virtue of Love? And... And Charity? Why did you come to me about her?" he said. His eyes seemed to be scanning the room, picking the best weapon to use against Fuyuki.

"Giroro, did you purposefully put a piece of Wrath into her? Because it's causing severe problems..." he admitted to him.

"Charity has a piece of Wrath inside of her? Then that means that we..." It all dawned on him, that they had somehow gotten pieces of each other's Virtue and Sin. "No. I _didn't_. And I want that piece of Wrath back."

"Good!" said Fuyuki. "Come up to the Heavens with me and help get it out, then."

"Come up and... get it?" Giroro didn't seem to understand what Fuyuki was suggesting. "You're inviting me, a _Sin_, to go up to the Heavens?"

"Yep!" Fuyuki smiled.

"Peh. You really are a Virtue. I have no idea how you got in here with that attitude." For some reason, Giroro didn't seem to be exhibiting anger towards Fuyuki.

"Charity's got some of Wrath... Charity did this..." Giroro whispered to himself. Thinking for a moment, he nodded. "I'll think about it. Now leave my home immediately."

Fuyuki realized it was probably the best he could get from Giroro and turned around, waiting for a door to appear.

It did, leading him back to the maze of rooms.

* * *

Stumbling around until he got to the throne room, Fuyuki turned his back and went to the doors that he had entered from originally.

They were closed.

"I... I can't open them!" He tried to pull them open, but nothing worked.

To his surprise, he heard a girl's voice and turned around. "Of course you can't. No non-Sin can leave this place without my permission, Fuyuki."

He stared at the Lord of the Underworld itself who was sitting on her throne of bones. She must have gotten to the throne room while Fuyuki was conversing with Giroro.

The image made his blood run cold - a girl sitting on a skeleton throne, a cold expression plastered to her face, her calculating eyes golden like the amber sun. He gandered at her silver shoulder-length hair as she changed her position to be one resting her elbow on an arm bone and letting her cheek rest upon the palm of her hand. Her clothes were like nothing he had ever seen; unusual, but demanding his respect, with an extravagant blue cape the shade of the night sky.

_How does she know my name? _Fear prickled inside his stomach as she looked at him the way a dictator would look at an ant.

"Y-you're the Lord of the Underworld," he managed to stammer.

"Hm. I thought you'd say something more interesting and fitting for you like 'Wow! You're the Lord of the Underworld! That's so cool! Just go about your daily life collecting souls while I watch. It's just that that's so cool... I'd love to write about it in my notebook!' " The Lord of the Underworld did really bad impressions - that was one thing Fuyuki had learned from this trip.

_Notebook? How does she know about my notebook...? That I used to write about different species when I was a mortal, hoping to research them... Keronians were my favorite, of course, but... How does she know what I'm like? ...Sort of? _The true terror was of how much she knew about him.

"I'd ask what you're doing here, but I have a few guesses. Were you here to see Keroro?" she asked.

"Keroro? You mean, Greed?" he said. "Wh-why would I be seeing him? I've never even met him!"

"Hmmm... I thought for sure the two of you were going to 'best friends forever' or something like that. I suppose you don't remember that, though." The Lord gave a small giggle that made Fuyuki want to scream.

"I should have expected you'd figure out how to get in here. You're the only Virtue smart enough to figure out how," she complimented.

Yet again, Fuyuki didn't know how to react.

"Were you here to give a message to Kululu from your mother? Because if so... I'm afraid to say Kululu's under house-arrest. He won't be seeing your mother for a long time." She gave a slight smirk.

"Good," he blurted out.

"Ah." The Lord became silent, realizing Fuyuki was not there concerning Kululu. Hearing her silence, Fuyuki elected to take a chance.

"M-may I please leave, Miss Lord?" he asked, trying to keep the stutter out of his voice. It couldn't hurt to request his freedom, right?

"Hmmm..." The Lord thought for a moment. "I suppose so, but only because you've done nothing wrong so far." With a flick of her wrist, the Lord opened the doors to him leading back to the Mortal Plane. "Do not come back, Fuyuki."

Fuyuki nodded and ran off, surprised that he had been freed.

He had gone to Hell and survived, even delivering the message to Giroro.

All he had to do now was wait for Giroro to come.

* * *

_Charity did this to me... _Giroro thought to himself, remembering what Fuyuki had said. _I needed something to do to distract me from my... problem... anyway. It's time to attack, all on my own. And punish Charity for what she's done._

_Hopefully, she'll even take back this piece of her Virtue inside of me, that is... if she hasn't been killed by me... _Giroro never planned to help Fuyuki, only to attack and punish Momoka for what she had done to him.

He was Wrath, after all, not someone to make treaties of peace with.

Giroro arrived at the Heavens with rockets strapped to his back.

"Giroro! You're here!" Fuyuki was waiting for him, still believing that he was there to help Momoka.

"Get back, Hinata... I'm here for Charity... That dumb Virtue who corrupted me so much!" Pushing past him, Giroro launched rockets through the Gates of Heaven, entering it to search for Momoka.

"You got him, Fuyuki..." Dororo realized. "But he's not so much in a talking mood."

"I will destroy Momoka! Maybe then that piece of Wrath will return to me, and the god awful piece of Love she buried in me will disappear," Giroro growled.

_So... I was right... _Fuyuki knew Momoka was in no condition to fight, though.

"No!" He threw himself in front of Giroro as the frog approached closer and closer to Momoka's room. "She can't fight you right now!"

Giroro picked up Fuyuki by the throat and growled. "I _will_ find her. And destroy her. I'm Wrath. Nothing else. I'm a Sin... I can't be anything else. I can't," he insisted. As he held Fuyuki's neck, Fuyuki looked into his eyes and saw fear instead of wrath.

Giroro was afraid of the unknown. He was attacking because he was afraid, not angry. And because of that, his Sin powers were weak.

Fuyuki almost felt sorry for him, even though he was choking.

"Sssstoppp..." he tried to gurgle out.

"Fuyuki!" Momoka's voice called, hearing Fuyuki's cries of pain. She jumped off of her cloud home to Giroro.

No longer crying, she gazed at Giroro with anger - anger that he was hurting the boy she loved.

"GET AWAY FROM FUYUKI! NOW!" she shrieked. Her hair stuck to points, transforming her into the wrathful, newer, dark Momoka.

Giroro dropped Fuyuki and began advancing on Momoka. "That's all what I wanted to see, my little piece of Wrath..." He then charged at her, shooting at her over and over again.

Momoka was about to claw him, as he got closer to her, but then she darted past him with her newfound agility thanks to her piece of Wrath. She dove off of the cloud and soared down to Fuyuki, who had collapsed from lack of oxygen.

"I've got you, Fuyuki..." She grabbed and held him, putting her mouth to on his as they fell and giving him a soft, open-mouthed kiss, breathing her life air into him. Fuyuki woke up.

"You saved me, Momoka!" He smiled and hugged her.

"I... I did... And I was only able to because of the darker me..." sge realized. She and Fuyuki flew back up to the kingdom to see Giroro growling and shooting rockets almost everywhere.

Dororo was trying to ward him off, countering him with a sword. The two in physical strength seemed almost equal.

"You saved him, Momoka... I knew that your darker side couldn't be bad..." Dororo smiled, taking a small break to speak and give Momoka his encouragement. "Your darker side stems from Love, so it's all yours to control and have... You have nothing to fear."

Momoka smiled, because she knew it was true now.

"Yes... You're right. This might be the new me, but I can use it to protect people important to me." Momoka smiled, proud. "I am the virtue of Love and Charity. Even if I have a piece of Wrath inside of me, I'm still a Virtue," she told herself. She turned to Giroro, who was still fighting. "And you... I would think the same would be true for you, that you would always be a Sin..."

"I wish...! Your stupid piece of Love made me fall in love with my enemy. How can I call myself a soldier of the Underworld when everything in me is telling myself that I must do everything in my power to protect the key to taking this place down?"

"The key... to taking this place down?" Fuyuki asked, wondering what Giroro meant.

"Of course. Did you not know that the Underworld has bigger plans than just to attack your kingdom time and time again?" Giroro gave a chuckle, but then frowned, remembering his current predicament. Once more he felt conflicted. "You Virtues have a... handicap. You still have something important to you in the Mortal Plane... Something that can easily be killed and not move on to the Heavenly Plane to become a virtue..." he told them as he pushed Dororo's latest blow aside.

"Something important to us on the Mortal Plane?" Fuyuki was silent for a moment as he tried to recall what was important to the Heavenly kingdom. Momoka, Dororo, Koyuki and his mother were all there. What was missing?

_Sis... Sis is still a mortal! And able to die! The Underworld is plotting to kill my sister! _Fuyuki realized what was important to not one, but two, Virtues in the Heavenly Kingdom. Natsumi. He wanted to scream and attack Giroro for being a part of the group that had plotted to kill his sister, but then he, too, would be feeling Wrath, and that would just make the evil Sin even more powerful. _Got to focus on something other than my anger... Sis... Giroro's piece of Love... Wait..._

"You fell in love with my sister?!" Anger was replaced by shock inside of Fuyuki as he tried to recover from the news.

"WHAT!?" Giroro erupted in blush. "O-of course not! Wh-why would you think I would ever had any sort of feelings for Natsumi..."

His attacks were beginning to falter. Horrible. Not only had Fuyuki picked up on how Giroro addressed her by name, but he was also tripping a lot now, allowing Dororo plenty of openings to complete his attack.

With a wave of light from Dororo's sword, he knocked Giroro to the ground, bruising his legs and arms so that he was too weak to continue his attacks.

"We win; don't try to hurt my friends again..." Dororo told Giroro, trying his best to protect the Virtues in his court, like a mother hen would protect her eggs.

"I'll try to hurt your virtue Charity as much as I possibly can for what she did to me!" Giroro threatened.

"I..." Momoka found her resolve while speaking to Giroro. "It's true that a piece of my Virtue... Love... got into you, but I can now feel it in your heart, and it's all your own. I was right. My piece of Wrath doesn't change that I am Momoka, and that I want to help people and protect those important to me. I just gain strength from it... Your piece of Love is the same way," she explained. "You, too, can gain strength from it, and it doesn't change who you are. You fell in love with that girl all on your own, kind of like how I fell in love with... I mean... never mind..." She cleared her throat. "Love doesn't control us. We choose who we love, as do you. Love is yours now, and you'll never be rid of it."

Giroro shivered for a moment, frightened by Momoka's words.

"But... I can't go on like this! It's killing me! I hate you all so much... I'm a soldier of the Underworld and I will do what our war commands. But to complete our battle... Natsumi's life... They're going to kill her! I can't... I don't want that to happen..." he confessed, his whole body shaking.

Fuyuki agreed. He wanted Natsumi's life to be protected, too. And although he felt confused about the fact that a Sin was now madly in love with his sister, he realized that, although Giroro was currently afraid and letting the fear control his rage, having an ally for Natsumi from the Underworld's side would be extremely advantageous for her.

"Dororo... Heavenly King." Fuyuki bowed. "Sins can be persuaded. He attacked out of fear today. Not Wrath. If he attacked out of true Wrath, he would have been much stronger," he explained.

Dororo nodded, seeing the boy's point. "Maybe it is time to put aside my ideals of not helping Sins..." He walked forward to Giroro and reached his hand out to help him up. "Wrath - no, Giroro - you are in love, and although that doesn't change the fact that you are a Sin, it does give you another goal. We, the Heavenly Kingdom, can help you. We want to help protect Natsumi Hinata, as well. Please... aid us."

Giroro looked behind himself, creeping backward on his elbows as he got closer and closer to the edge of the cloud. He wanted to leave.

"I am a loyal soldier of the Underworld. I would never aid the Heavens. You're weak. Just because I'm in love doesn't mean I'd turn my back on my entire home and life. I don't need the Heavens help to protect Natsumi. I'll do it all on my own, and I'll continue being your enemy, a Sin." Giroro slapped Dororo's hand away. "I refuse." He dropped off the cloud, disappearing back to the Underworld.

Dororo looked disappointed. "It didn't work..."

"It did, though," Fuyuki observed. "At least a little bit. He still hates us, but he promised to protect my sister. As long as Wrath is around, I hope that Natsumi will remain safe..."

Although he still seemed worried about the murder-his-sister plot, he hoped that Giroro would truly sort out where his loyalties laid... and that they would be by Natsumi's side.


	18. The Loyal Soldier

**Another chapter from the underworld's perspective!**

**Thank you btw, to all who are reading this story like the author with too many names who's leaving some really nice reviews, and my sister, runwithscissorsXXXbattlescars who's putting commas and periods in places where I trust they belong. (Basically what I'm saying is grammar mistakes are now her fault. Not mine, because she's beta reading)**

**Notes for this chapter. Originally it was just going to be a short, thousand word thing. And then this 6000 word chapter came to be. I added a lot more into it, so hopefully it'll be better.**

**(Also I still don't own sgt frog)**

* * *

"_Strength of will is something that can help you get out of any situation. Everything is under your own command - not anyone else's." -The Heavenly King_

* * *

Giroro fell back down to the world below, letting the air encircle his body.

_How dare they offer an alliance with me - the Sin who likes battle the most! _he thought to himself. He was stronger than that. Just because he had a crush on a mortal girl didn't mean he was going to throw away everything he stood for.

_She's probably going to be fine... She's stronger than Zoruru ever will be, after all, _he thought.

Zoruru would lose, but then what? Would the Underworld send more soldiers to kill Natsumi? Who would be next? That purple Keronian who called Giroro his brother? When Giroro had attacked, the two had appeared close, so there was probably no threat of the purple Keronian hurting Natsumi.

_They did appear close... She and he are probably lovers, and it's none of my business to get in the way of that. _He felt a little bit better knowing that he had no place in Natsumi's life.

Giroro landed safely on the ground, trying not to think any deeper into Natsumi's life. The thoughts returned, though.

_What if... after Zoruru fails, the Lord sends a Sin to do the job? What if she sends Kululu? Kululu would do awful things to Natsumi... What if... What if she sends me? What if I have to kill Natsumi... _He tried to stop himself from shaking at the imagery.

He had fought the girl once. It hadn't even been with the intention to kill, just to test. If he was ordered to kill her, he'd have to.

But he couldn't stand the thought of the girl in any sort of pain, even if he'd only seen her briefly and fought once.

_If I had taken the Heavenly King's offer... hypothetically... what would my life be like? Who... Who would I be if I somehow stopped being Wrath? If I cut off ties with the Underworld..._

_I would be nothing. I am a soldier. All that I am is Wrath._

_Would I go to Natsumi? Would I join her team of mortals and try to protect and aid her? Would I try to win favor with her by doing some sort of typical mortal ritual? What do mortals do to impress girls? Heck, what does anyone do to impress anybody else? The only examples I've ever seen of relationships are pretty bad failures, one guy going after another guy who's more oblivious than anything I ever know, and the other example I've seen is a relationship based solely on sex, fear, and power. Neither are good examples of what to do in my circumstance, _he thought.

Even so, he couldn't stand thinking about her... thinking about Natsumi.

He entered the Underworld wondering if there was any way to hide his bruises and how he had gotten in a fight with the Heavens on his own.

He kept to himself as he entered the Underworld, trying to avoid the other Sins. It failed, though.

"You got in a fight, ku, ku, ku. Not with one of us, though." Ever since Kululu had been imprisoned in the Underworld, he'd been trying to keep up-to-date with everything that was happening there.

"Yeah. That stupid Virtue that's Natsumi's brother picked a fight with me," Giroro exaggerated .

"Ku? And you lost? To him? He's such a weakling, though. Ku, ku, ku. Hilarious."

Giroro wasn't in much of a laughing mood.

"Did he pick a fight with you because you attacked his sister?" Kululu couldn't stop laughing. "He did know that you got your butt kicked, right? Ku, ku, ku!"

Giroro felt rage. "SHUT UP!"

"Nah, don't feel like it," he responded. "By the way, you missed it because you were gone but Zoruru's sent word that he's going to kill Natsumi tomorrow. Ku, ku, ku. Hopefully he's stronger than you are."

Giroro felt his stomach drop.

_Kill Natsumi tomorrow? B-but... _He tried to bite the bottom of his quivering lip.

_You'll be fine, soldier, h_e told himself. _You didn't know this girl for a long time, so her death won't impact you that greatly. You've only seen her once._

Giroro remembered Natsumi's face, her rage, her fist against his cheek.

Call him an idiot, but he had read her entire personality through that one punch. She was just as hot-tempered, quick to fight, and courageous as he was. She wasn't one to run away.

_I've only seen her once, but I love every bit of her. It feels like I've known her my entire life... _Giroro knew each of his thoughts were true. Natsumi had somehow burrowed her way deep into his heart and would kill it if she was killed.

_I love her too much to let her die. I've fallen so deeply in love with her, just from one encounter and. If she died... I would be Wrath. I would still be Wrath, who I was, the Sin who had nothing except my anger. I don't have much, but I would lose everything if she were to die._

_And I would never ever recover. I know that cold, awful, truth for a fact. I can not deny that._

Giroro clenched his fists, willing the tears away. He would not cry in front of Kululu from the very idea of Natsumi dying.

"Zoruru will probably fail. He's weak. I beat him easily." Giroro told this to not only Kululu, but himself. He wanted to believe it.

_Would Natsumi fight her friend as powerfully as she fought me if she was the only one in danger, though? She was so strong against me because I put her friends in danger, and she hated me with a passion... But Zoruru to her is her friend... Will she still be as strong? _he wondered.

"Ku, ku, ku. If Zoruru fails, I'll send something down," said Kululu. "'m not letting that girl slip away. With the opportunity we've been given to hurt the Heavens we've got to take every chance we have."

Giroro turned around and ran away from Kululu, the Sin that did pose a threat to Natsumi. He couldn't stand being there.

He heard Kululu's laughter behind him and knew that he'd never be able to escape it.

* * *

Giroro ran to the only person he knew would know the definite plans that the Underworld had for Natsumi's fate -the Lord. She had been the one to know about Natsumi's connection to the virtues before anyone else had.

Giroro located her sitting in her throne and drinking from a wine glass with a red liquid in it - which he assumed to be blood, or at least that was what Keroro had told him - closing her eyes and focusing on the events that were transpiring in the mortal plane.

Giroro bowed in front of her on his knees, as was proper.

The Lord opened her eyes and looked down, waiting to hear what Giroro needed.

"I... I want to ask..." Giroro's head spun as he tried to place what he wanted to say ask about Natsumi without sounding like he cared and was a traitor to all the Underworld. "...about Diligence's daughter - the one Zoruru's been sent to kill."

The Lord took a sip of her drink.

"Natsumi. You want to ask me about Natsumi." She said the words slowly and carefully, as if she was trying to process it. "I suppose that's better than you seeking her out on your own..."

_Why? _Giroro wondered. _Why doesn't she want me seeing Natsumi? What is she hiding from us about Natsumi? She seems to know so much about her..._

"How did you know that the Virtues still had connections to the Mortal Plane?" he spoke.

"I'm the Lord of the Underworld. I know all about the mortals and Virtues; why wouldn't I know about Natsumi?" She seemed bored by Giroro's questions, as if they were too unimportant to be asked. "You're bruised," she noted. "I doubt you were fighting Fuyuki. He's much too weak."

_Why does everybody say that? _he wondered. _Oh, no... She might figure out I went to the Heavens and attacked without her permission... I don't want to be punished!_

Giroro made up the worst excuse imaginable. "A bunch of guns fell on me while I was cleaning them."

"Was Fuyuki here to see you?" she asked, not even commenting on his awful excuse.

_Wait... How does she know Fuyuki was here? Can she really see all about the Virtues and the mortals... Does she know about my feelings for Natsumi? No... She must not. She doesn't want me seeking her on my own. She doesn't realize we've already met... _One of his secrets was still safely guarded.

Giroro tried to change the subject from Fuyuki. He doubted she'd be pleased that he let a Virtue go from the Underworld. "What is it that you're drinking?" _Damn. I am the worst at changing subjects._

The Lord didn't get angry or scold him. She did seem disinterested in where the conversation was going. "Orange juice with red food coloring in it. I told Keroro it was the blood of the previous Sin of Greed to scare him. It worked."

_So that's why Keroro thinks that... _he realized_. I... I didn't know she was just drinking orange juice._

"Your turn to answer honestly. Did you get those bruises when fighting the Virtues without my permission?" asked the Lord.

Giroro felt as if she was going to grab him and rip him to pieces if he blinked. So he kept his eyes wide and vigilant.

"Yes, Ma'am," he answered. "The Virtue of Charity was experiencing some of my Sin... Wrath, and sent her boyfriend down here to pick a fight with me. I headed up to teach her a lesson, but the Heavenly King... beat me."

"Ah. So that's what happened." The Lord didn't seem mad, only like her curiosity had been satisfied. "You shouldn't have gone up without my permission, Giroro. Do not do so again, or I will be forced to punish you, like I did to Kululu."

Giroro gulped and nodded.

"You are a Sin. You are a soldier, and I am your commander," she Lord told him. "Understood?"

Giroro nodded quickly. "You are my lord. My commander. I would never dream of not wishing and carrying out your every order." He bowed to her. _This is who I am. I'm nothing except Wrath..._

The Lord nodded and crossed her legs as she looked down at Giroro's pathetic form bowing on the ground. "Now, what is it that you truly wanted to know about Natsumi Hinata?"

Giroro answered quickly, trying to remain stern and like a soldier, as if he was just worried about doing things efficiently. "What will happen if Zoruru fails in killing her? What's the next plan of action?"

The Lord smiled a cold, heartless grin, as if she had spent years perfecting it. It looked like a badly-acted mask of an emotion, soulless but nonetheless evil. "You shouldn't have bothered asking me if she would still die. Do not worry. She will. If Zoruru can not do the job, I'll send in Kululu. He's always wanted to do more against the Heavens, after all. And it's the perfect test to know where his loyalties lie and whether that Aki thing is truthfully over," the Lord explained. "After he kills Natsumi, it will be."

Giroro's hopes fell. Kululu would definitely be able to kill Natsumi if he was sent. Natsumi was a brawn-based soldier like himself, and Kululu was the type to play on weaknesses and make any strength virtually useless against him.

"W-what if..." Giroro tried to keep the stutter out of his voice. He cleared his throat and started again. "What if he tried to seduce Natsumi like he tried with Aki?" He wasn't good at manipulation - he had never done it before, but he hoped he was a natural at it for Natsumi's sake.

The person he was trying to manipulate was the Lord of the Underworld herself, and bringing up Kululu's past transgressions _wasn't_ perhaps his most brilliant plan.

The Lord's fake smile faltered into one of anger for even suggesting such a thing. "He wouldn't." Giroro heard certainty in her voice, but he knew it was faked. "And if he did... Well, the punishments I would devise for him would be between me and him and would be a secret. But I can tell you Natsumi wouldn't survive if that happened," she vowed.

Giroro's hope for Natsumi's survival dwindled. The idea of Kululu flirting with her was disgusting, but likely when it came to her beauty. His plan to manipulate the Lord into sending someone else had failed.

"How about you send me to kill her instead? That way you don't have the risk of Kululu betraying you and the Underworld again. I'm the strongest Sin. I could do it." Giroro spoke before he processed what he was suggesting as he bargained for Natsumi's life. _What am I suggesting? If I was sent to kill Natsumi I wouldn't be able to kill her..._

"No, Giroro. I wouldn't send you to kill Natsumi." The Lord dismissed his idea quickly and easily. "You wouldn't be able to."

"Why do you think that?" he asked, wondering if he should feel insulted, and not keeping his thoughts in the least bit to himself.

"You wouldn't be able to," she repeated, not giving Giroro an explanation. "And you are not to challenge Natsumi Hinata. This is an order. Any curiosity about her should be addressed to me instead of sought out yourself, understand?"

"Yes," he responded.

"Swear that you will not pursue Natsumi Hinata and seek out anything for yourself about her," The Lord ordered. "Swear on your power as a Sin."

"I swear that I, Wrath, will never pursue Natsumi Hinata and attack her without the Lord's order." Giroro swore the sacred oath, knowing that he could not refuse.

The Lord nodded, satisfied.

"Good. And Giroro - " Giroro turned to her before leaving. " - don't worry about if Zoruru is strong enough to kill Natsumi. I'll send him more power from the Underworld, since you've shown concern. The Heavenly King was able to infuse power into him, after all; why shouldn't I be able to do the same?" she asked, waving a hand.

"Natsumi will die. Do not worry."

And with those words, Giroro's heart sank.

Either Natsumi, the girl he now loved, would die - or he'd have to make the decision to betray everything he stood for.

* * *

Giroro's movements were lethargic - it was as if time itself had slowed around him. The last minutes, hours - he didn't honestly know - that Natsumi would be alive known to him.

Kicking at the floor below him, he fell onto the ground, experiencing a desire to do nothing. Nothing he could do anyway.

He didn't know somebody he loved being in danger could hurt the other party so much.

"Hey, buddy, it's my job to lie around doing nothing, not yours." Keroro poked at him, crouching on the ground by his side.

Strangely enough, Keroro was the kindest of the Sins, only not helping anybody because he was too lazy to do anything. Giroro had experienced genuine concern from the Sin several times, and each time it always surprised him.

Nonetheless, Giroro moaned, his face on the ground.

"You okay? You look pretty bruised. Nothing I can do though, I suppose," Keroro admitted.

"N-natsumi..." Giroro moaned to himself.

"Hmmm?" Keroro didn't quite catch what Giroro was saying.

"I don't know what's happening to Natsumi right now..." he admitted, moaning again in discomfort at not knowing if the deed had already been done or if she was still alive.

"Ah. You want to see what's happening to that Pekoponian! I suppose you would, being the Sin of Wrath. You'd probably get a kick out of witnessing her death, wouldn't you?" Keroro asked. "I know I really like getting stuff, after all. It feels... nice, having your Sin satisfied. And painful if it isn't... It's the worst torture in the world to be denied what you want."

Giroro looked up, at first reading into Keroro's words as a selfish plea for more stuff, but then recalling every burning desire he got from not battling, from not fighting. What would it have been like if he were denied his Sin like Kululu was currently, or denied constantly like Keroro, unable to slack off because he was ordered to do chores? Giroro was usually able to satisfy his Sin, but if he wasn't...

Was not being able to do your Sin actual, physical torture? Giroro felt sick at the idea that his fellow Sins were more controlled by their Sin than the Lord herself. Or maybe it was all her plan to keep them loyal.

_Maybe the Underworld isn't the greatest place. We're even hurting ourselves... _Giroro realized. It was a thought that he desperately wanted to brush aside, disgusted at his disloyalty.

"There's no way I can see what's happening without going to the Mortal Plane myself, though," he complained, his thoughts still being at Natsumi's fate.

"Yes, you can. There's a way to see into the Mortal Plane," Keroro told him.

Giroro sat up immediately.

"There is?"

"Y-yeah..." Keroro looked down, almost as if he felt some shame. "I learned about it a long time ago, and it's definitely not something we're supposed to use, but there is a way..."

"What?" Giroro had to know - he had to see Natsumi, had to know that she was safe.

"H-have you ever been in the Lord's room?"

_Dumb question, of course I haven't. Nobody has. Not even Kululu. It's so hard to find in this maze, and from what I know, ultra-protected. And we don't have permission. Why would I openly try disobeying her when it would be snooping through her personal stuff and I'd probably be punished horribly? _Giroro thought. "No," he answered. "Nobody has."

"I h-have..." Keroro admitted. "I was punished horribly after she found out, but I've been there."

"You have?" Giroro asked, surprised. He had never heard of this before.

Keroro nodded. "There's a pool in it. A small, tiny pool of water that can see into the Mortal Plane. That's why I went into it in the first place. Well, actually, I was cleaning near her room and sneaked in and found it." His eyes darted off to the side and he gave a nervous laugh. "She caught me sneaking in the third time I was there."

"Why'd you go?" Giroro asked, not having even imagined that there was a way for them to observe the Mortal Plane in a similar way that the Virtues did.

"I... I wanted to see something." Keroro's green face tinted pink. Giroro raised a brow, it being one of the first times he had seen the other Sin embarrassed. The former frowned, knowing Giroro wasn't just going to let that little bit of information go unexplained.

"You've probably never heard about it because it happened before you were a Sin, but a long time ago there was a boy who prayed to me, the Sin of Greed," Keroro told him.

Giroro hadn't heard of anybody doing that before. "People can pray to us, the Sins?"

"H-he... He needed me so much, he needed my help... And I suppose I needed him a bit too... I had never had somebody care for me without me... well, screwing it up... After I granted his prayers, he decided that he was going to come to the Underworld, and find us... well, find _me_." Keroro tried to slap his cheeks as if to make the blush disappear, only drawing more attention to it, proving unsuccessful.

Giroro put the pieces together. "So that's one of the people who used the door to the Underworld before..."

"He was the first," Keroro nodded. "He... He didn't know where he was going, so I used the pool to watch him and try to use some of my powers to lead him to the door to the Underworld without his knowledge that he was being influenced," he explained.

"Ah." Giroro nodded, understanding. "Did he ever make it?"

"Yeah. He did." He looked away, then began to talk faster. "But anyway, that's not important that story, what's important is you seeing that battle you really want to see. Have fun. Don't follow through with me. I won't help." He pushed him off, not wanting any extra work load.

Giroro nodded as the other Sin ran off.

_I bet Tamama would be jealous if he knew. _Giroro realized that it was best to keep Keroro's tale to himself. He didn't want a disaster happening thanks to the Sin of Envy.

He then turned around to find the Lord's room and see Natsumi.

* * *

Giroro tried to navigate his way through the ever-changing hallways of the Underworld.

"Where would her room be?" he wondered to himself. The only thing that encouraged him was that finding her room was based on luck, not wit. After all, Keroro had been able to find it when Kululu had never entered it. And Keroro did not have a lot of wit.

Giroro chuckled to himself._ Guess that means Kululu doesn't have a lot of luck, because I bet he'd want to snoop through the Lord's things if he could... _He felt around the walls and tried to move.

_Please... I've never been lucky before, but let me be lucky just this once... _he hoped. Instead of listening to his instinct as a Sin, he listened to something else, the only thing that might have had any luck, since it didn't come from him. He listened to his piece of love.

Instinct told him to try to aim for the middle of the maze - the Heart of the Underworld. _Figures my heart would tell me to go to the heart,_ Giroro thought. He followed it. There was nothing to lose, after all.

* * *

Luck was on his side that day, though. He finally made it to an unusual door he hadn't seen before.

The door stood massively iron, the edges borderlined with thorns. It didn't look as if it was locked, but Giroro knew the way things worked in the Underworld, and that it was probably locked with some sort of magic that only let the Lord in.

_Keroro got in, though... How did he? _Giroro tried not to remind himself that Keroro got in thousands of years ago and that the Lord might have made the door's locks stronger by now.

"Please.." He begged the door, hoping that it would have a heart of its own, a heart that he knew the Lord didn't have because she was cruel and heartless. "I need to know... for love... I'm doing this for love..." Placing his hand on the doorknob shaped like a swirl, he twisted it.

It turned.

Giroro was miraculously able to get in, pushing open the door with all of his strength.

_Thank you, _he smiled. He walked into the Lord's room, not sure of what he would see.

The room was dark, darker than the rest of the Underworld. The first thing Giroro's eyes saw as they adjusted was a large bed.

_Pretty normal... _he thought to himself. That was the only thing normal, though. A few other things were scattered around the room that were less normal, such as a few books scattered on the floor with dust gathering on them, having not been read in a good long time; a computer, set up as if it was stationed there as decoration, but never used; and other weird things, like roses, dead and dying, their torn petals all over the ground.

_Maybe that computer's from Kululu. He's the only one who can make such things. Seem kind of useless to me, _Giroro thought as his feet crunched over rose petals.

He tried to joke in his head to relieve the tension. _No wonder she doesn't want anyone in here, it's so messy._ He picked up a book, wondering what the Lord was reading.

"Geology, huh." He tossed back to the ground, looking around for the pool. His eyes finally saw the walls.

Drawings were all over them, but the most unsettling part was how childishly drawn they were. The drawings covered head to toe of the walls and ceiling, and they were all about them.

_It's us... the Sins... _he realized. There was barely any of him on the walls, but he did spot himself a few times, feeling nauseous from how happy and childishly he was drawn.

_What are such childish drawings doing in the Lord's room? _he wondered. They couldn't be hers... could they? Most of the drawings were of Kululu, doing various things that were _extra_ out of the ordinary, like smiling and looking like someone nice to be around. He spotted a few of a very tall version of Keroro with eyebrows, as well.

Giroro shivered from the drawings surrounding him. Sure, he wasn't a good artist, but these pictures were just weird.

Spotting a light in the corner of the room, Giroro went towards it.

A pool of clear water encircled by concrete was at his feet.

_I found it. _He smiled, then sat by and peered into it. All he saw was his reflection. "Show me Natsumi Hinata," he ordered, hoping the pool would respond to his command. It did.

An image of Natsumi and her group appeared before him. They weren't all chatting happily, though.

Instead, as Giroro suspected, Zoruru was charging, a blade coming out of his arm. Natsumi looked confused and as if she was about to dodge instead of attack. The rest of her Keronian allies, the purple one and purple-ish pink one, were arguing in the background.

Giroro's own monsters - the Destroyers of the Kingdom of Wrath - were aiding Zoruru, as well - Giroro could see them in the horizon coming closer.

_No! She'll die if this keeps up! _he thought to himself. He saw Zoruru beat Natsumi to the ground.

"NATSUMI!" he screamed, trying to reach into the pool as if to help her. All he got was water. Fear gripped his heart. _She'll die. And all I can do is watch..._

As Natsumi looked up from the ground, trying to get to her feet but faltering, determined and fire blazing through her eyes... Giroro realized what he had to do. She wasn't giving up. She would fight against even her friends.

And so would he.

She wanted to fight, but would die if things continued. With a willpower like hers, she wouldn't realize she didn't have a chance alone.

_I won't let you die, _Giroro promised himself, finding his own willpower. He was nothing but a soldier, but Natsumi wasn't. She was more than that. She deserved much more than the life he had lived and blindly accepted, the orders that were only orders.

She deserved all of the Heavens on her side. She deserved all of Hell on her side.

_I can't give you that. But I can give you me. I will save you. I will protect you, _he vowed, throwing away his loyalties with just being able to see her a second time. There was no way he could let her die due to his indecision.

He was going to save Natsumi, even if he had to become the entire Underworld's enemy to do so. _I can't bare to see you in trouble. _Giroro left the pool and exited the Lord's room.

He had a Mortal Plane to go up to.

* * *

Giroro barged through the throne room, facing the exit from the Underworld and ready to push the doors open.

"Where ya going? Ku, ku, ku," Kululu asked, lounging on the Lord's throne - most likely without her permission.

Giroro was just glad that Kululu would be the only one to witness his betrayal.

"Kululu. I thought your chair was the Lord's lap, like the minion you are." Giroro hoped insulting Kululu would get him off his case. After all, the way to make him weaker was to lower his pride.

"If you thought that could hurt me, you'd be wrong. Ku, ku, ku. I'm actually fine with sitting in her lap. We share seats, especially each other's body parts being seats... Ku ku ku. My favorite one is the one where she's sitting on my face," he responded.

"Ew." Giroro's face contorted in disgust at learning more about Kululu's sex life.

"Enough about that - "

"Finally" Giroro breathed a sigh relief.

"Where are you heading off to? Especially without the Lord's permission? Ku, ku, ku... I wonder how generous I'm feeling if I'm going to keep it a secret..." Kululu gave a wide smile. As he teased him, Tamama and Keroro walked in.

"Are you heading off somewhere, Giroro? Should we have a strategy meeting?" Tamama asked, noticing Giroro's hand on the door.

"Better you doing work than me, I suppose. Just hurry back soon so that we all don't get in trouble." Keroro didn't seem to care about Giroro leaving without permission.

Giroro's shoulders tensed as he realized all the Sins were surrounding him. They all knew. And they would all know soon enough when the Lord figured out he was protecting Natsumi.

"I'm not coming back," he admitted.

"What?" Keroro asked, shocked. Tamama, too, almost fell over in shock at the Underworld's most loyal soldier leaving.

"You're escaping from that woman?" Tamama asked. Kululu, although shocked, did not look as amused.

"Ku, ku, ku. Going traitor, huh? Well, we won't let you," he told him. "I am the original Sin, Pride, and I am not about to let you leave. The battle with the Heavens is all our duties, and I'm not letting you screw it up for me.

"You're a Sin? What are you, trying to destroy the pride of being a Sin? Disgusting. Thousands, I'm sure, would kill for the opportunity to be as powerful as you are, and I'm not letting you disgrace the Underworld." Kululu raised his hand forward, as if he was commanding an army. Sitting in the Throne of the Underworld, he truthfully did look like he was the ruler and belonged there.

"Try to stop me," Giroro growled as he took out a gun. "Pride of being a Sin? Screw that. I'm done. I want no part of this anymore."

"What do you mean, Giroro?" Keroro asked hesitantly.

"I mean... I am no longer Wrath." Giroro growled, his eyes no longer alight with anger, his face no longer covered in Wrath, but instead with revelation and the will to fight for his freedom.

"What? Why would you stop being a Sin, though? Why would you want to?" Tamama asked, confused. He understood not wanting to be near the Lord, but not throwing away being a Sin.

"I will not stand by as the Underworld murderers Natsumi. I swear from now on, I am no longer a Sin, but her protector instead," he vowed.

"Wait, what?" Keroro wanted to do a spit-take. "You're in... in love with that Natsumi girl?" He was confused.

"Yes, yes I am. And I can now understand why the Lord didn't want me seeing her. Because declaring war on Natsumi will be declaring war on me, and I will be the Underworld's greatest enemy," he threatened. "I know how all of you work, after all. And I will take you down if you threaten her."

"Really? Ku, ku, ku. You'd be wrong." Kululu's glasses gleamed in the light of the flickering flames behind them. "I won't let you go." He pressed a button on his headphones and tentacle-like wires squirmed out. It was as if they were coming from nothing and each one had a mind of its own.

Giroro swallowed, ready to show his conviction.

He was going to earn his freedom, by beating each Sin that stood against him.

Keroro stood by the corner, trying not to get involved. Tamama felt as if Kululu could handle it and sat down with some popcorn to watch.

Running towards Kululu, Giroro tried to use his knife to slash away the wires before they enveloped and choked him.

"Ku, ku, ku!~"

There were too many wires, each reaching for a different part of Giroro. Like a swarm of worms they enveloped him, even though he was trying his best.

_N-no... _Giroro thought as all his oxygen supply was cut off by the tentacle mass. He couldn't concentrate, couldn't see anything in the dark, moving haze that was the wires. He tried to keep his eyes open and his mind clear.

His eyelids fluttering closed against his will. He recalled the same thing happening once before - fighting to keep his eyes open, but losing.

"_I will not be a Sin! Never ever!" _Giroro remembered growling. He remembered being a young tadpole, rebelliously complaining, but with true devotion in his eyes. _"I won't ever hurt the world my brother resides in!"_

"_With that, you'd be wrong," _The Lord had told him in her calm voice. _"Even if you don't want to, you'll still do it. You are a Sin. If you care so deeply for your brother, I'll just have to erase him from your mind..." _She had raised her hand and sleep had been upon Giroro. He had fought it, though; he had tried desperately to fight it.

"_Never. I'll never forget!" _He had taken a knife and stabbed himself in the face to try to keep himself awake. _"This scar... will always remind me of what you're trying to take from me..."_

"_No. No, it won't," _the Lord had told him, _"Good night, Giroro. Hopefully you'll wake up as a more compliant sin. Say good-bye to your past, and hello to your new future..."_

Giroro opened his eyes from the flashback, and touched his face.

_I didn't want to be a Sin! They forced me to! They... They took away my memories! _He couldn't remember his life before being a Sin, but he knew it was probably something he wanted to protect.

And he felt Wrath for the one thing he thought he'd never feel Wrath toward - the Lord herself.

Yelling loudly, Giroro launched his arms forward, trying to get free of the wires. Summoning a gun, he shot wildly, trying to make a hole through their nest. Light shined into his hole and he desperately pulled himself out.

"I'll never work for this evil again," Giroro growled, standing atop the pile of wires he had blasted. Running up to Kululu as Kululu tried to pull his wires back into his brain, Giroro pointed a gun at Kululu's face.

"You've lost this round. Let me go," he demanded. "We can do this the easy way of you letting me walk out, or I could kill you. Can we Sins die? You like learning new things. Would you like to find out?"

"You'll never be able to truthfully leave. What do you think we can do, just give up being Sins or something? That's impossible." Kululu gave a quick chuckle.

"No, no it's not. It's only impossible if you don't try." With that, Giroro leaned in closer to Kululu, bringing himself to Kululu's ear. Whispering something to the other Sin, Kululu paused and nodded.

"That might happen," he responded. "Ku, ku, ku. Don't know though. I am the original Sin. You're right."

Giroro curtly nodded and began to back away, his gun still targeting Kululu. "The rest of you move or I'll blast you, too."

Finally reaching the door, he turned around.

"I give up my Sin. I am no longer Wrath. I say good-bye to all that I once was, and hope that by the time I get to the Mortal Plane, the ties between the Underworld and I have been formally cut," he swore. Opening the door, he finally dropped his gun. "Not like you can follow me anyway, Kululu. You're under house arrest, after all." He laughed. "Bye, guys."

Keroro was the only one to wave.

"I _will_ save Natsumi. So don't intervene." With that, he closed the door behind him, expelling himself from Hell.

Turning his back on all the other Sins, he walked up the stairs.

_For Natsumi... I'm going to save Natsumi... _He told himself with each step.

And soon enough he was gone, having vanished from the third plane and freeing himself.


	19. Talking it Out

**Hey guys, here's the next chapter. Spoilers. One pairing and couple gets resolved. Can you guess which one?**

**Also notes, let's see...I suck at fight scenes. I am so sorry. I need to work on that.**

**Anyway, I still own nothing and I really hope you like this chapter!**

* * *

"_Loyalty isn't won through likability and being nice. Loyalty is won through cold, heartless terror." - The Lord of Hell_

* * *

Zoruru didn't sleep that night, awaiting for the sun to rise so he could attack Natsumi at the start of dawn.

He'd kill her while she slept, right as night changed to day.

_It's not like I can sleep, anyway. _Zoruru didn't know how his new monstrous body recharged, or how it worked at all. All he knew was that he didn't have a mouth so he couldn't replenish his strength with food, so the body that the Heavenly King had given him would probably starve to death, and he'd have to carry around a metal carcass while it was doing such a thing.

_I've heard starving to death is a pretty painful way to go... _Zoruru thought to himself, touching his rib cage - the side that had flesh on it. He couldn't feel what his skin felt like with his new, metal hand.

He was a monster. A monster that the Heavenly King had built out of pure stupidity.

And he was ready to prove to the Heavenly King that he was a monster, and destroy what the Heavenly King loved.

_Pity. I won't feel Natsumi's flesh and blood as she dies, _Zoruru thought to himself, planning to plunge his arm into her heart and kill her swift and quickly.

Didn't matter how bloody it was, or how hard; all that mattered was if he would be able to do it.

_"I'm sending some more power over to you." _Zoruru heard a noise in his head, words spoken wordlessly by the Lord of the Underworld.

_Does she think I can't do it on my own? _He felt irritated. He could do it easily. And after knowing Natsumi for a little bit, he'd be able to enjoy it much more.

All he needed to do was wait for the right time.

* * *

The sun finally started to rise off in the distance, bathing Zoruru's face in warm light. Not like he could feel much of it.

_It's time, _he decided. Walking quietly, not a sound made, he walked into the cabin, having been outside keeping watch for everybody.

He walked past Garuru, Pururu, and Saburo all laying on the floor in a post-drunken stupor. Walking farther, he found a room to the left that Natsumi had insisted on sleeping in.

He turned the doorknob, careful not to let the door squeak.

He saw Natsumi sprawled out on a bed, her chest gently rising up and down with light breathing.

_Perfect,_ Zoruru thought to himself. Jumping gently onto her bed, he changed his left arm into a more blade-like contraption. Using his other arm to balance himself, he held his body over Natsumi, pointing his blade down upon the girl.

The light of the sun reached the window and hit Zoruru's metal half, reflecting from it getting right in Natsumi's eye.

Zoruru plunged his blade down just as Natsumi woke up.

"Ack!" On a gut instinct, she rolled out of bed to avoid the light, dodging Zoruru's blow.

"Natsumi... I shouldn't have underestimated you," Zoruru growled.

"Z-Zoruru?" Natsumi asked, sleepily rubbing her eyes. "What are you doing in my room?" She got up off the floor.

Zoruru didn't answer and instead charged at her again, hoping to put her legs out of commission so she couldn't move.

Natsumi jumped over him and screamed.

"Wh-what are you trying to pull? Your blade... is dangerously sharp..." Natsumi didn't want to think Zoruru was trying to kill her.

She didn't want to doubt his loyalty.

"Dodging won't save you forever. After all, I'm the more agile out of the two of us," he hissed.

Natsumi knew he meant business at that moment. Instead of dodging, she screamed and ran out of the room and out of the house, to get a broader terrain.

Zoruru followed after.

* * *

Behind Zoruru, the door swung open and Garuru, Pururu, and Saburo followed after him.

"What's happening? What's wrong?" Garuru asked, immediately ready for action. He had heard Natsumi's scream, and wasn't quite sure what was going on.

Natsumi stood at the edge of the acid lake, her back facing the acid, and her face towards Zoruru.

"Zoruru's... attacking me!" she gasped. "Please, Zoruru, stop this!" He charged at her again, disappearing for a moment due to his speed, only to appear yet again to hit the girl from behind.

Natsumi made a mangled cry of pain and fell to the ground, bruised, but ready to get up again.

"Zoruru... What? Why?" Garuru was confused on why Zoruru would attack one of their own.

"I'm out of here. This seems a little like some sort of group thing and not for me to intervene in." Saburo high-tailed it out of there, running quickly away.

"Do not worry. I won't attack anyone but Natsumi. You should be fine with that, right?" said Zoruru, standing strong. "After all, you attacked her yourself last night. I saw."

Garuru didn't respond or justify his actions. Instead, he stood still.

"Garuru?" Pururu asked, looking at him. Garuru was the strongest out of all of them, being the oldest and person with most experience in battle. He always helped when one of their members were in need. He was a kind and compassionate leader. But for some reason he wasn't moving to aid Natsumi.

"S...Stand down, Pururu." Garuru gave his orders. "This battle is between Zoruru and Natsumi."

All he did was let the battle rage on.

* * *

"Seriously. What is going on?" said Natsumi, never bringing her fists up to attack Zoruru back.

_Maybe I can talk him out of this... _she thought to herself. She needed to convince Zoruru to stop. They hadn't been together in a group very long, but she felt that all of them were very close, and because of that they were family. "What do you have against me? Is this because I'm a human and you're not?" Natsumi asked.

She tried to dodge Zoruru's next blow, but it nicked her hip, tearing her cloth just lightly and letting light blood spray from the wound.

"I thought it was obvious what's going on," he said. "I'm trying to kill you."

Natsumi felt sorrow in her stomach. _But why? What did I do? _She didn't want to fight him. Zoruru must have had a reason; he was usually so sensible. "Maybe we can talk it out instead of fighting..." She was usually the first to jump in to battle, but fighting with Zoruru would solve nothing. She put her hands up in the air to signify that she wouldn't fight back.

Zoruru ran behind her and kicked her in the back, toward the acid lake.

"AHH!" She stopped herself just before she fell in, her body aching from the impact.

"There's nothing you can do to change my mind," Zoruru hissed. "This is for the Heavenly King."

_The Heavenly King...? Zoruru's met him? He... wants me dead? _Natsumi couldn't believe her ears. "Why? What have I done? Can't I talk to him...? Maybe convince him not to want me dead?"

"Oh, he doesn't want you dead," said Zoruru. "This is to _hurt_ the Heavenly King."

Garuru finally spoke up from his position of standing there and not helping. "Why would you want to hurt the Heavenly King?"

"Because he's a jerk. A jerk that I will spend the rest of my life, if I have to, taking him down," Zoruru vowed. "Luckily, I've gotten help - help from his enemies... The enemy of my enemy is my friend, after all. That's the saying."

"The Heavenly King's enemies... You mean the Sins? Wait... Do you mean Wrath came here to test you? Not the rest of us?" Natsumi finally figured out why a Sin had challenged them.

"You have connections to Giroro?" Garuru seemed surprised. "Where is he? What's he doing?"

Zoruru didn't answer and instead turned to the horizon. He saw something approaching. Not one thing approaching - no - quite a few.

Giant rock golems filled with lava like veins. The Destroyers heading from the Land of Wrath to aid him in destroying Natsumi.

"I suppose there's your answer about my affiliation with the Underworld," Zoruru responded. "Now, stand down as I kill Natsumi. There's no reason for me to hurt you, too."

With that, Zoruru launched himself at Natsumi again, watching as she stood in shock that Zoruru had betrayed them, and unable to dodge since she was surrounded by acid. Zoruru hit her, scraping his claw-like hand against her stomach, and she fell to the ground, struggling to get up.

_Zoruru... Why? Why try to get help from the Underworld? And why kill me? _Natsumi felt so many questions without answers drifting through her head. The one thing that wasn't drifting through her head was the will to fight back. She didn't want to hurt her former friend and comrade. She didn't understand why she had to die, but she knew it must have been important. _After all, for some reason Garuru hates me at the moment, too. He won't even help me._

* * *

Pururu watched, horrified, at what Zoruru was doing. "We've got to help her," she told Garuru, trying to pull at his arm.

"No," he ordered. "Just watch."

"Why? She's going to die if things keep up like this! I may... I may have disliked Natsumi for some personal reasons before, but we can't just let her die!" Pururu told him, horrified that he was just standing and doing nothing.

"Just do nothing. Do not get involved," he ordered. _Natsumi is in danger. Maybe... Maybe there's a sliver of hope that Giroro will see and he'll come. He'll come back to help Natsumi..._

"Why?" Pururu asked. She looked at Garuru, as if searching his face for a legitimate reason to not help somebody in trouble.

Garuru saw Pururu's doubt as she looked at him. "Because... Because Giroro might come..." he admitted. _I can trust Pururu with my plan. Pururu's stayed with me all these years; we've come to understand each other. She's Giroro's friend, as well. I do not have to be alone in bringing Giroro back._

When he saw Pururu's facial expression not change in the slightest, he dove deeper into his explanation. "When we fought Giroro... I saw that he felt a certain... connection to Natsumi. I believe that he has fallen in love with her. If we let her be in trouble... use her as bait for a moment... he's sure to come, and we'll have a chance to bring him back."

Pururu looked him square in the eye. "We?"

"Yes. We. Our group started with just the two of us. We're the most devoted to Giroro's well being. I know you'd be willing to help. Not only are you Giroro's friend, but my own friend, as well. And I trust you." Garuru gave a small smile as he spilled his feelings to Pururu.

Pururu frowned. "Garuru..."

He placed his hands on hers to look into her eyes and feel their deep connection, and then entwined his fingers with hers. Pururu took one of her hands away and slapped him across the face.

"OW!" Garuru usually didn't express much pain. He was stronger than that and had a great endurance, but he wasn't used to someone he trusted so much just slapping him.

"I CAN'T BELIEVE YOU!" Pururu screamed. "I can't believe I stayed with you all these years, if that's where your priorities lie!"

"What do you mean?" Garuru asked, rubbing his cheek. He didn't understand why Pururu was mad. "Giroro's safety is my number one priority. There's nothing wrong with that."

"GIRORO IS DEAD. Your little brother died long ago!" she yelled at him. "He might still be walking around and a Sin, but he is not your concern! He doesn't remember you. He's different! He isn't the Giroro you knew and loved. HE'S! A! SIN!"

"I'm not going to listen to you badmouth my broth - " Garuru was cut off by another slap.

"You are surrounded by friends who are _not_ dead, who _need_ your help, some who love you and have stuck by you in all these years, even through your worst times," she said. "I _am_ allowed to bad mouth your brother. I knew him, too. And I know you. I allowed you to try to heal from him by even looking at me as some sort of sister figure, or I don't know what, just a replacement for _him. _And I did that not so you could heal, but because I cared about you. And I care about you enough to not just stand by and let you be a big, stupid idiot."

"B-but... I don't understand..." Garuru didn't understand Pururu's yelling. _What's wrong with my plan to use Natsumi as bait to bring back Giroro?_

"Garuru." Pururu looked at him sternly. "The man I fell in love with was the sort of person to help anyone in need, protect all those who needed him. He wasn't the type to sacrifice people. He was the type to use his own strength to save everyone he could. If you're so focused on the dead that you can't help the living..." She turned away from him for a moment. "...then you aren't the person I thought you are.

"And I did not stick by you throughout all these years, let you flirt with Natsumi in front of me even when I had a giant crush on you, just to see you selfishly sacrifice living people with lives and their own hopes and dreams just for the small sliver of the chance that you would see your brother again," she said. Turning her head to glance at Natsumi, she saw her on the ground, with Zoruru slowly approaching.

Natsumi wasn't putting up a fight, and neither was Garuru.

"If you aren't going to help her, then I am! I'm not just going to let Natsumi be killed in front of me!" And even though Pururu was very weak in battle, she still left Garuru's side and ran forward, throwing her arms out to protect Natsumi.

Garuru just stood blubbering, unable to figure out what just happened.

* * *

Zoruru charged at Natsumi, knowing that the human girl was weakened. He saw her desperately trying to help herself up, but to no avail. He had weakened her with his various hits in locations that helped her move.

As he charged forward at his fastest speed, Pururu launched herself into the fray, spreading her arms in front of Natsumi.

"ZORURU, NO!" she yelled. Zoruru's arm blade was out and pointed straight on target - towards where Pururu now stood instead of Natsumi.

_No... _In a quick moment of thinking, Zoruru changed directions abruptly, slightly to the left instead, where the cabin door was. He was not going to hurt Pururu, one of his closest friends.

He tried to let his feet stop him from moving, burying them in the ground for traction.

It was all too late, though. He felt his body stop, having hit something large.

* * *

There was noise coming from the outside. The noise of slapping and screaming.

"Well, uhhh... That was an interesting night last night..." Tororo blushed, waking up by Chiroro's side.

"Um... Uh-huh," she nodded, rather embarrassed. She kissed him lightly on the lips anyway. "I didn't mind it. It was lots of fun."

"What do you mean it was fun? It was embarrassing! But I'm sure we'll get tons better overtime at making out. Probably even better than the Sin of Lust ever is!" Tororo cheered.

"Why better than him?" Chiroro asked.

"I don't know. Probably because his power probably makes him some sort of making-out god... Lucky. I'll beat him, though," he promised.

Chiroro giggled. "We better go outside and check out what's happening. Maybe everybody's having a party."

"Yeah," he nodded. "What jerks, not inviting us!" Taking Chiroro's hand, he led her outside.

* * *

Zoruru's eyes remained on Pururu, trying desperately to avoid her, as his metal, blade-like arm went straight through Tororo's body as the door opened.

"NOOO!" Chiroro screamed.

"Wh-what..." Zoruru couldn't feel the blood of his dead friend fall onto him. All he saw was the muscles in Tororo's face that was smiling, faltering.

It had been an instant death, Zoruru's arm going straight through Tororo.

"Y-you... You killed him..." Chiroro cried as Zoruru carefully took his arm out of Tororo's body. Her quivering eyes focused on Zoruru. "Monster...!" she hissed.

"No... No! I would never kill Tororo! He was... my most precious friend!" Zoruru denied, as if he was on trial, the judge and jury all being himself. "It was... It was her!" He pointed to Natsumi. "If you had just let me kill you when you woke up, this wouldn't have happened! And Tororo would still be alive..."

Growling, the circuits in his throat making a glitch-filled, monster-like sound, he moved closer to her, ready to kill her in any number of violent ways.

Just for her to feel as much pain as his heart was feeling.

"I'll kill you... I'll kill you, Natsumi!" he vowed, his eye glowing red in rage.

"It... It wasn't my fault! You were the one who killed him!" she accused. "You killed Tororo..."

Chiroro's sobs echoed throughout the wind. Along with footsteps.

Large, heavy footsteps.

"I suppose the 'extra' power from the Underworld has arrived," Zoruru noted, letting everybody look around and see that they were surrounded by Destroyers from the Land of Wrath.

"You won't survive now, Natsumi. Not when all of them have been ordered to kill you." Zoruru almost laughed, as if he was achieving one of his dearest goals.

Nothing about him was the least bit human, the last remaining emotions and feelings he had dying along with Tororo. He had nothing to protect. Nothing he wanted... except revenge.

"Oh no..." Pururu tried to keep close to Natsumi to keep her safe. Natsumi shoved Pururu aside.

"Garuru's right. I have to do this on my own. He's a monster. I won't try to negotiate any longer." Natsumi brought her fists up as she painstakingly got to her feet.

She wasn't going to let anyone else get in Zoruru's way to protect her.

The Destroyers got closer and closer, holding up their rocky hands, large and chunky, so Natsumi got a good view of their palms. Fire trickled through the cracks of the rock and the first one begin to shoot lava at her.

The rest soon followed.

Natsumi looked behind her, knowing that she had a choice between lava and acid. She made her decision and lept through the air, towards the acid, hoping to find protection in it from the lava. _I may be disfigured but I'll be alive for a little bit._

As she flew through the sky, a Keronian figure leaped out and hit her aside, an arm draping around her and pulling her to the other edge of the lake, to safety.

"Huh?" Natsumi asked as she hit the sandy shore instead of acid. Looking up, she saw no other than the red Keronian, known as Wrath himself, as her rescuer.

"Sorry I'm a bit late." Giroro cleared his throat. "I got in a fight."

"What?" Natsumi was so confused.

"I know... I should have probably said something a lot better on our, what... second meeting? Yeah, second. Well, for you second, I suppose, I mean, I watched you from the Underworld a bit so maybe it would be third for me?" Giroro started blushing as he realized he was just making Natsumi even more confused and was just a rambling dork.

"What the heck?" Natsumi uttered again. This was more confusing than Zoruru trying to kill her.

"Well, I mean to say I didn't rescue you after seeing you twice... I thought about you non-stop in the Underworld too so I didn't just make a reckless illogical decision..." Giroro fumbled, covered in blush. "M-maybe I should stop talking; I'm just sort of screwing things up."

"Why are you here?" Natsumi asked. "Are you here to kill me, too?"

"No! Never! Well, I mean... Never again!" he said. "I'm here to help save you."

"I am so confused, but maybe we'd better clear things up after fighting, so no more of that rambling. I don't know what to make of it, because it's just confusing me even more," Natsumi suggested.

"Good idea," Giroro nodded, taking out a gun. He noticed some blood coming from Natsumi's side and stomach. "Are you injured? Maybe it would be best for you to stay here. I should be able to deal with this."

"Heck no. I'm not sitting around while some guy rescues me. I'm not that kind of person," Natsumi retorted. "If you're that concerned about the state of my physical strength, hand me a weapon. I'm sure I can figure out how to use it."

Giroro smirked. "I knew I didn't make the wrong decision in saving you." He tossed her a gun. "It's pretty hard to use - I assume it took me years to learn how to aim..."

Natsumi shot one of the Destroyers in the head. "I think I got it. I'm a natural at aim."

Giroro's jaw dropped and he held up his hands in defeat. "You are the most amazing person in any plane that I have ever met." He was in an almost lovesick-like daze, but quickly shook his head to snap himself out of it. He had a job to do.

"Ready, Natsumi?"

"As I'll ever be..." she said. "Do you prefer to be called Wrath or Giroro?"

"Giroro," heanswered. One of his latest personal fantasies, fighting by Natsumi's side, was now going to be satisfied.

_Well... I can be honest that fighting with a Sin as I try to protect myself from an old friend was not on my bucket list, _thought Natsumi._ Hope it goes well, though_.

The Destroyers and Zoruru got closer. Natsumi shot at some of the Destroyers, Giroro did as well, until they were too close for comfort.

Jumping up to Natsumi's arm, Natsumi launched Giroro into the air, letting him hit the Destroyers like a bullet of his own, knocking some down. Bouncing off one, he did the same to another, falling to the ground only to slash at Zoruru with his knife.

"What are you doing!? I thought the Underworld wanted me to attack this girl?" said Zoruru, confused on why Giroro would be standing against him.

"_They_ did. I didn't. I'm telling you to give up, or accept death. I won't let anyone hurt Natsumi," Giroro growled, the two getting apart only to charge at each other again and again.

The metal of Zoruru's body and Giroro's knife clanked against each other as the two hit over and over.

"I won't. Even if the Underworld tells me to give up, I won't let Natsumi live," Zoruru growled. "It's personal now."

"Then I'll have to kill you," said Giroro. Zoruru hissed and jumped backward onto the shoulders of the one of the Destroyers, hoping that they would take Giroro out for him.

Giroro jumped backward, too, to stay at Natsumi's back and shoot at the spots that she couldn't cover. Standing back to back, the two shot as many Destroyers as they could. Dodging the lava and fire they shot together.

_I didn't know I'd have such good fighting chemistry with a Sin, _Natsumi thought to herself._ It's like we've been battling together forever_.

_Fighting by Natsumi's side is the best. I wouldn't trade anything for it, _Giroro thought, feeling lovesick again.

"Hey, Giroro - " Natsumi addressed him as if they were already partners, her instincts trusting him. "Maybe we shouldn't focus on these small fries. Zoruru's the enemy with a brain, after all, and the one who's different from the rest." Natsumi threw her gun at another Destroyer, since the gun was out of ammo. Giroro tossed her a new one and she caught it, as if they had practiced the whole routine.

"All right. Aim for his non-metal side, I'm guessing?" he asked.

"Yeah. But on my signal. He's fast so he might try to get away. I'll aim for where he is, you aim for where he'll go," she whispered.

And Giroro nodded.

"Go!" The two changed positions to side-by-side, barraging Zoruru with bullets. He tried to flee, but together the two were able to send pullets in all his paths.

"Urk." Giroro's bullet hit Zoruru's weakest part, the bandaged right half of what was formerly his mouth. The bullet went through, and half of Zoruru's head exploded, the blood pouring all over the Destroyer he was riding on.

He was dead.

Giroro grinned. "Got it."

"Now the rest of these guys... Is there any way you can order them away?" Natsumi asked. "I mean... Can't you use your Sin powers?"

"Ah... You don't know... I'm no longer a Sin... I gave that up. We just have to kill them. Luckily, I do know one thing." He grinned again. "And that's all their weak points."

After he told her of them, Natsumi smiled and let her fun begin, killing any remaining Destroyers that surrounded her.

* * *

After what seemed like hours of battle, the two lay on the ground among the various bodies of monsters.

Tired and breathing heavily, no words were exchanged between the duo.

"Will your friends come for you soon?" Giroro finally asked.

"I don't know. They probably could see all the fighting on this side of the lake, but since I'm just laying here instead of standing, they might think I'm dead," Natsumi admitted. "Wh-why... Why did you come here? For me? I mean... the last time I saw you we were kind of enemies..."

"Kind of? Does that mean we're not anymore?" Giroro asked, hopeful.

"Depends. You did save me and say that you were no longer a Sin... But if you've got some sort of wicked and disgusting reason like 'you wanted to kill me yourself' or something like that, then of course we're still enemies!" she clarified.

"What if it's because I'm madly in lo—You know what, never mind." He grew quiet. "Better that I just keep that to myself." Giroro realized it would probably creep Natsumi out quite a bit, especially in her confused state.

"I rescued you to help protect you," he said. "It was as simple as that."

"I still don't get anything about that." Natsumi tried to sit up. "Oww... Forgot Zoruru clawed me pretty hard."

Giroro rolled over and sat up and crawled over to her. "May I see?"

"Uhhh... why?" Natsumi asked, knowing that most of her wounds were below her shirt.

"I want to treat the wound," he answered. Natsumi looked up at him as if she was having a hard time picturing him treating her wounds. "I suppose you don't trust me enough to do that."

"No. I'm just having a hard time imagining you knowing how to treat wounds. I mean you are - were... a Sin!" she said. "Sins destroy and kill stuff, not make things better."

"I got in a lot of fights in the Underworld. Either with another... rather annoying Sin... or the Heavens themselves," he explained. "I needed to learn how to treat wounds to get better so I could fight again."

Natsumi nodded and began lifting up her shirt.

"WAIT, UMM I DON'T THINK W-WE'RE READY FOR ANY SORT OF PUBLIC FLASHING RELATIONSHIP!" Giroro stuttered, blushing and covering his eyes. "Unless of course, I mean... I guess..."

"Dummy! My wounds are on my hip and stomach!" she reminded him. "You said you wanted to treat them!"

"Oh... I thought you were doing something else... That's a relief." Giroro sighed. _It's hard not being a Sin... And able to be affected by other Sins besides Wrath... Mainly Lust... Geez, never had that happen before. Now I feel disgusting. Ew._

He leaned down to examine Natsumi's wound. "There's only acid around us, so I can't clean it right now... Unless it would start raining. That would be very nice," he said out loud.

It started raining.

"Thanks... Heavenly King, I assume? I bet he's laughing at this whole scenario. Or thinking something like 'I should make some more flowers. With old Wrath gone maybe I'll make flowers in his land.' " Giroro talked to himself as he grabbed a piece of cloth from inter-dimensional transport. "Damn. I bet the Underworld's going to get rid of all my stuff that I'm transporting soon. I didn't think this through." He got the piece of cloth wet and started cleaning Natsumi's wound, summoning some bandages, as well.

"Thanks..." Natsumi admitted as he bandaged the wound on her stomach and hip.

"No problem," he grinned. He helped her up. "To your friends?"

Natsumi nodded and picked him up. "We'll go quicker if I carry you. After all, you're really short," she teased.

Giroro rolled his eyes, but knew he didn't mind being held by her. "All right."

* * *

The two trudged through the rain, making it eventually to the lake cabin where Natsumi's friends were surrounding Tororo's body.

"Natsumi! You're all right!" Pururu was overjoyed, "Where's Zoruru - ?"

"We killed him. We had to," Natsumi let out, setting Giroro down.

"What is he doing here?" Chiroro asked. Garuru walked out of the corner where he had been sitting, mourning Tororo's death that could have been prevented.

"Giro-" He cleared his throat and looked over at Pururu, who was still giving him the silent treatment for how he had acted and treated Natsumi. Pururu sighed and looked between Giroro and Garuru, wondering whether to let Garuru ask the legitimate question of what the ex-Sin was doing there.

Pururu ended up asking it for him. "Why are you here, Giroro?"

"I wanted to help save Natsumi," Giroro answered, as if should have been obvious.

Garuru piped up like a child. "See! I told you so!"

Pururu elbowed him in the stomach. He fell over onto the ground, groaning. "Ah... I see... I'm still being punished..."

"Why did you want to save me, though?" Natsumi asked, still quite confused.

"Um... Uhhh..." Giroro blushed and stuttered. "That's not important." He dismissed it even though it was important. "What's important is the question that all of you, besides Natsumi, are probably wondering. Why would I, a Sin help a mortal?" he said for them. "Well... I am no longer a sin. Earlier today I cast my status as a Sin aside and betrayed the Underworld. I have left them. I don't know if I would exactly be classified as a mortal, since I've apparently died to become a Sin. But I'm only Giroro now."

"Why did you cast aside the Underworld?" said Natsumi. "When we saw you last, you seemed like such a good fit to be a Sin..."

"It's because I saw you," he confessed. "I... When you fought me, you were angry, too... Wrathful." His eyes darted to the side, then back to her. "But it didn't control you. You controlled _it_. You used your anger as power and to protect the people you care about. I suppose in a way I was jealous of that a little bit. As a Sin, all I had was Wrath and anger. I had nothing else. There was nothing I could protect, nothing that could make me happy. But you had something that you loved so deeply that you would fight for with all your power, not just because you wanted to feel anger.

"But you were also strong and powerful. You had rage and wanted to use it. You wanted to fight, just like I did. I felt a kindred spirit in you," he spoke. "And because of that... I wanted to feel what you felt, to protect something important to me... I had never felt companionship before, and with you, I felt emotions that I didn't even know could be felt. That's why I betrayed my allegiance to the Underworld and instead promise myself to you, Natsumi." Giroro bowed to her.

Natsumi's mouth hung slightly open, feeling almost embarrassed with all the praise and Giroro's naked emotions honestly expressed to her.

"If that's the case, I would be honored to have your loyalty and companionship." She took Giroro's hand and helped him up from bowing - way too traditional for her. "Nice to meet you, Giroro. I think I like you much better as yourself than as a Sin."

Giroro nodded and smiled. "Nice to see you too, Natsumi."

And with that Giroro was welcomed into their group, by mostly Natsumi and slightly Pururu, too.

* * *

Pururu sighed, watching Garuru doodle in the ground with a stick, the tough soldier waiting for her to be less mad at him.

"I suppose you can go speak to your brother," Pururu said. "There's nothing wrong about it now, as long as you don't do something stupid like try to steal him from Natsumi. You were right about him liking her. So don't ruin it for them."

Garuru stood up, brushing himself off from his depression now that Pururu was talking to him again.

"No. You were right about what I was doing. I was so obsessed with my brother that I wasn't doing what was right and helping the people in front of me," he responded, understanding and reflecting on his actions. "He might be alive now, but what if I was to throw everyone's lives away just for him? To ignore everyone else just for one person... That would be still wrong even if he was alive. There's five of us, not two of us."

Pururu patted him on the back. "I'm proud of you."

"That, and... It's not just my brother that I care about, and I was very... thoughtless to not realize that. I wasn't able to see what was right in front of me... and I'm sorry for that," he apologized. He embraced Pururu. "You're important to me, too, and I'm sorry that you were ever under the impression that you weren't." Pururu blushed and smiled. "I love you."

"I know that. Like a sister. A sibling. After all, that's what you wanted all those years without Giroro," Pururu reminded him.

"I could never love you in the way I love Giroro," Garuru admitted. "Never. Even if I may have been under the impression that I was... Look, to be honest, I was just being really stupid."

"I know. Don't worry," she told him.

Garuru sighed. "I love you," he repeated again, trying to get his words across. Pururu smiled, leaned up, and kissed him.

After trying to keep his calm, cool composure for a moment, Garuru kissed back, squeezing Pururu around the waist and holding her.

His words and feelings had gotten across and the two had come to an understanding.

* * *

"Do you remember your life before you were a Sin?" Natsumi asked as she tried to talk to Giroro and get to know him better.

"Not really. Bits and pieces are coming back, flashes, now that I've cast aside my powers as a Sin, but most of it was erased by the Lord," he said.

"The Lord?" Natsumi asked, not really knowing who that was.

"The Lord of the Underworld," he told her. "I'm sure you've heard stories about her. The leader of the Sins."

"The Lord of the Underworld is a girl?" Natsumi had always imagined a tough, evil ugly warlord guy.

"Yeah. Why, is that unexpected to you in some way?" Giroro asked.

"A little bit. But it's cool. Go girl power! Wait, no... She's evil... That's bad..." Natsumi frowned, kind of admiring the Lord's strength and kind of not.

Giroro smiled at Natsumi's enthusiasm and just every word she said. It was like he was living a dream. Natsumi giggled and he laughed with her. Pulling her knees to her chest, she smiled at him.

"Giroro, do you remember your brother?" She knew Garuru had been a jerk to her, but that didn't mean he didn't deserve to see his younger brother.

"N-no..." he admitted. He scrunched his face, trying to remember. Natsumi stood up and took Giroro's hand, as if to make the moment more meaningful and let her lead him to his new life. At least, that's what she thought it symbolized. Giroro thought she just wanted to hold hands. He blushed.

Natsumi led Giroro to around the house, past Tororo's body and where Chiroro was still mourning it.

Garuru had Pururu pressed against the cabin, holding her up as her legs were wrapped around him, as they passionately made out.

"Uhhhh..." Natsumi blushed. The last time she had checked on them they had been arguing, with Pururu giving Garuru the silent treatment. And now they were making out!

_So wait... They like each other? Is that why Pururu was glaring daggers at me sometime back when I was flirting with him?_ A part of Natsumi hadn't noticed Pururu's dislike, and a part of her had. The part that _had_ had tried to ignore it, though, not really knowing what was going on.

_I'm glad that she's happy now. If I had known back then, I'm sure I would have... probably still flirted with Garuru because I so desperately wanted to live life like a romantic tale. But I'm happy that she's happy now and that I've grown to better things, _she thought.

She didn't really want to interrupt their make-out session, but she also really wanted to reacquaint Giroro with his brother.

"Do you want me to break this up?" Giroro whispered to her.

"Um... can you?" she asked.

"Sure. I've got lots of experience interrupting couples making out. _Trust me_." Giroro shuddered at several repressed memories. Taking out a gun, he blasted it into the air. "Hey! You've got company, idiots! Please. Nobody really wants to see this. Get a room or get out."

They both squealed and Garuru accidentally dropped Pururu on the ground. Both of them started blushing.

"S-sorry about that..." Natsumi said. "It's just I wanted to... I didn't know that you guys were making out... And that Giroro was terrible at gently interrupting you." She glared at him.

"Hey! You didn't say anything about gentle!" Giroro shrugged. "I was the Sin of Wrath! No kindly, quiet, fluffy interruptions."

"Did it work_ then_?" she asked.

"No. I was almost killed several times. Those were the moments when they stopped... Usually they just continued and I was the one who had to leave." Giroro shivered again. "IT WAS MY ROOM," he cried. Natsumi patted him on the back, while Garuru and Pururu just watched.

"Anyway, Giroro... I wanted to introduce you to your brother, Garuru... He was your brother in your mortal life... Well, your life. He's your brother." Natsumi awkwardly led Giroro forward and put his hand on Garuru.

"Wh-what?" Giroro looked at Garuru's face, confused. He looked in it deeply, trying to remember, scrunching his face up as if searching his memory.

Garuru smiled at him, letting him take his time.

"Big... Big bro?" Giroro asked, finally remembering at least a few flashes of his big brother and him. "Big brother!"

Garuru smiled and hugged Giroro, so that Giroro wouldn't see his big brother cry.

Giroro hugged him back.

Pururu and Natsumi cried a little bit from the reunion.

Chiroro cried too, still by the body of Tororo, crying for different reasons than that their friend had died, which they had all forgotten in favor of Giroro.

They all cried together, for their own reasons.

The rain stopped.


End file.
